Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee - Senate
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Transcript
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Bills discussed (75)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1429
Act 854
· 8 mentions in agenda, transcript, chapter
Matched: “…R INPATIENT TREATMENT SERVICES FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS. HB1429 M. Shepherd TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY WHILE ENSURING QUALIT…”
|
TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY WHILE ENSURING QUALITY FOR CERTAIN FACILITIES PERFORMING MAMMOGRAPHY SERVICES; AND TO AMEND … | M. Shepherd | Notification that HB1429 is now Act 854 |
|
HB1004
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…EMS (ARRIVES) FUND FOR EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES AGENCIES. HB1004 Pilkington TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTH…”
|
TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH. | Pilkington | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1131
Act 959
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…EQUIRE PAIN RELIEF PARITY IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. 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 |
|
HB1171
Act 625
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1171 K. Moore TO MODIFY THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE…”
|
TO MODIFY THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; AND TO AUTHORIZE AN ABBREVIATED INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT … | K. Moore | Notification that HB1171 is now Act 625 |
|
HB1185
Act 799
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1185 L. Johnson TO ADOPT THE DIETITIAN LICENSURE COMPACT IN ARKA…”
|
TO ADOPT THE DIETITIAN LICENSURE COMPACT IN ARKANSAS. | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1185 is now Act 799 |
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HB1186
Act 960
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “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 |
|
HB1187
Act 858
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1187 Vaught TO AUTHORIZE A LICENSURE BY ENDORSEMENT FOR MARRIAGE…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE A LICENSURE BY ENDORSEMENT FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS. | Vaught | Notification that HB1187 is now Act 858 |
|
HB1218
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1218 J. Mayberry TO CREATE LICENSURE FOR THERAPEUTIC RECREATION…”
|
TO CREATE LICENSURE FOR THERAPEUTIC RECREATION SPECIALISTS; AND TO CREATE THE THERAPEUTIC RECREATION PRACTICE ACT. | J. Mayberry | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1241
Act 568
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1241 J. Mayberry TO ENSURE THAT THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM RE…”
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TO ENSURE THAT THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM REIMBURSES FOR DENTAL AND ANESTHESIA COSTS FOR HIGH … | J. Mayberry | Notification that HB1241 is now Act 568 |
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HB1251
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SION TO BE AN ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH. HB1251 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH THE ARKANSAS ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSIS…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE ARKANSAS ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANT ACT; AND TO PROVIDE FOR LICENSURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS. | L. Johnson | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1252
Act 965
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…R ACT; AND TO CLARIFY FOOD DONATION LIABILITY AND IMMUNITY. HB1252 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH THE CERTIFIED COMMUNITY-BASED DOULA…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE CERTIFIED COMMUNITY-BASED DOULA CERTIFICATION ACT; AND TO CERTIFY BIRTH AND POSTPARTUM DOULAS … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1252 is now Act 965 |
|
HB1285
Act 856
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1285 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH AN EXEMPTION PROGRAM FOR AMBULANCE…”
|
TO ESTABLISH AN EXEMPTION PROGRAM FOR AMBULANCE SERVICE'S OPERATORS FOR CERTAIN HEALTHCARE SERVICES. | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1285 is now Act 856 |
|
HB1403
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1403 Pilkington TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HEALTH AND OPPORTUNITY FOR…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HEALTH AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ME ACT OF 2021 TO ALLOW NONHOSPITAL … | Pilkington | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1428
Act 855
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1428 Steimel TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING PUBLIC LODGING; AND TO P…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING PUBLIC LODGING; AND TO PROVIDE A BED HEIGHT REQUIREMENT FOR … | Steimel | Notification that HB1428 is now Act 855 |
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HB1439
Act 853
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1439 Ladyman TO REMOVE THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS OF THE DEPARTME…”
|
TO REMOVE THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES FROM LICENSURE AS A … | Ladyman | Notification that HB1439 is now Act 853 |
|
HB1440
Act 629
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1440 Bentley TO AMEND THE MASSAGE THERAPY ACT; AND TO ESTABLISH…”
|
TO AMEND THE MASSAGE THERAPY ACT; AND TO ESTABLISH REGISTRATION FOR MASSAGE THERAPY ESTABLISHMENTS. | Bentley | Notification that HB1440 is now Act 629 |
|
HB1442
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1442 Achor TO SET RESTRICTIONS ON PHARMACY CONTRACTING AND CONFL…”
|
TO SET RESTRICTIONS ON PHARMACY CONTRACTING AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; AND TO ESTABLISH PHARMACEUTICAL PATIENT … | Achor | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1454
Act 674
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1454 Bentley TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING CRIMINAL HISTORY RECOR…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS CHECKS FOR EMPLOYEES OF SERVICE PROVIDERS; TO … | Bentley | Notification that HB1454 is now Act 674 |
|
HB1458
Act 851
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ND TO PROVIDE FOR LICENSURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS. HB1458 L. Johnson TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "CREDENTIALING INFORM…”
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TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "CREDENTIALING INFORMATION" WHEN THE ARKANSAS STATE MEDICAL BOARD IS PROVIDING … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1458 is now Act 851 |
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HB1471
Act 966
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1471 Wooldridge TO AMEND THE EXPIRATION DATE OF ALL LICENSES OF…”
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TO AMEND THE EXPIRATION DATE OF ALL LICENSES OF THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS IN SPEECH-LANGUAGE … | Wooldridge | Notification that HB1471 is now Act 966 |
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HB1537
Act 850
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…RD IS PROVIDING INFORMATION TO CREDENTIALING ORGANIZATIONS. HB1537 Ladyman TO REPEAL THE LOCATION ACT FOR COMMUNITY HOMES FOR…”
|
TO REPEAL THE LOCATION ACT FOR COMMUNITY HOMES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES. | Ladyman | Notification that HB1537 is now Act 850 |
|
HB1543
Act 631
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1543 Underwood TO ESTABLISH THE WORKFORCE EXPERIENCE OPPORTUNITI…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE WORKFORCE EXPERIENCE OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF 2025. | Underwood | Notification that HB1543 is now Act 631 |
|
HB1559
Act 632
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1559 McGrew TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO SEEK…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO SEEK A WAIVER TO THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID … | McGrew | Notification that HB1559 is now Act 632 |
|
HB1576
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ULANCE SERVICE'S OPERATORS FOR CERTAIN HEALTHCARE SERVICES. HB1576 Lundstrum TO PROHIBIT A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL TO BE PLACED O…”
|
TO PROHIBIT A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL TO BE PLACED OVER A KARST TOPOGRAPHY. | Lundstrum | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1582
Act 708
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1582 McAlindon TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS AND ENCOURAGE CERTAIN…”
|
TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS AND ENCOURAGE CERTAIN ACTIONS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR … | McAlindon | Notification that HB1582 is now Act 708 |
|
HB1585
Act 849
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…STATE TO IMPROVE MATERNAL AND INFANT OUTCOMES. Page 3 of 5 HB1585 L. Johnson TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION FROM LICENSURE AS A HOME…”
|
TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION FROM LICENSURE AS A HOME HEALTHCARE SERVICE TO AN ENTITY THAT … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1585 is now Act 849 |
|
HB1622
Act 635
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW. HB1622 Gramlich TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO MODIFY THE…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO MODIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ADVERSE DECISION" UNDER THE … | Gramlich | Notification that HB1622 is now Act 635 |
|
HB1677
Act 637
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1677 Bentley TO AUTHORIZE ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT PROGR…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO MAINTAIN EMERGENCY MEDICATION KITS. | Bentley | Notification that HB1677 is now Act 637 |
|
HB1679
Act 861
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1679 M. Brown TO AMEND THE REVISED ARKANSAS ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT;…”
|
TO AMEND THE REVISED ARKANSAS ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT; TO ALLOW CERTAIN CLASSES OF PERSONS TO … | M. Brown | Notification that HB1679 is now Act 861 |
|
HB1712
Act 639
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…HERAPY SERVICES THAT ARE NOT REIMBURSED BY MEDICARE PART A. HB1712 Joey Carr TO ESTABLISH THE SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE COMPACT IN…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE COMPACT IN THIS STATE. | Joey Carr | Notification that HB1712 is now Act 639 |
|
HB1734
Act 862
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS DISEASE; AND TO PROVIDE CIVIL IMMUNITY. HB1734 Childress TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DEATH CERTIFICATES; A…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DEATH CERTIFICATES; AND TO CLARIFY THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS WHO MAY … | Childress | Notification that HB1734 is now Act 862 |
|
HB1751
Act 640
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1751 Underwood TO REQUIRE AN APPLICANT FOR TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE…”
|
TO REQUIRE AN APPLICANT FOR TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES PROGRAM BENEFITS TO ENGAGE IN … | Underwood | Notification that HB1751 is now Act 640 |
|
HB1758
Act 641
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH AND PRONOUNCE DEATH OF A PATIENT. HB1758 Gramlich TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING HEARING INSTRUMENT DIS…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING HEARING INSTRUMENT DISPENSERS; AND TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "PRACTICE … | Gramlich | Notification that HB1758 is now Act 641 |
|
HB1767
Act 863
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1767 L. Johnson TO ABOLISH THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISO…”
|
TO ABOLISH THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL; AND TO CREATE THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1767 is now Act 863 |
|
HB1782
Act 642
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…TO REQUIRE CERTAIN REPORTING OF PROCUREMENT ORGANIZATIONS. HB1782 Hudson TO PROHIBIT OVER-THE-COUNTER DIET PILLS FROM BEING S…”
|
TO PROHIBIT OVER-THE-COUNTER DIET PILLS FROM BEING SOLD, TRANSFERRED, OR OTHERWISE FURNISHED TO A PERSON … | Hudson | Notification that HB1782 is now Act 642 |
|
HB1784
Act 864
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1784 Wardlaw TO MODIFY THE INFORMAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS F…”
|
TO MODIFY THE INFORMAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS FOR LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES. | Wardlaw | Notification that HB1784 is now Act 864 |
|
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 |
|
HB1817
Act 865
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1817 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH ELIJAH'S LAW IN ARKANSAS; AND TO RE…”
|
TO ESTABLISH ELIJAH'S LAW IN ARKANSAS; AND TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1817 is now Act 865 |
|
HB1840
Act 967
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SH A STATEWIDE ANAPHYLAXIS POLICY FOR CHILDCARE FACILITIES. HB1840 L. Johnson TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CAR…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT TO ENSURE THAT SEDATION DENTISTRY IS COVERED … | L. Johnson | Notification that HB1840 is now Act 967 |
|
HB1841
Act 1021
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…DENTISTRY IS COVERED BY RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS. 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 |
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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 chapter, agenda
Matched: “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. |
|
SB2
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…RTAIN GENETIC SEQUENCERS AND GENETIC ANALYSIS TECHNOLOGIES. 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 chapter, agenda
Matched: “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 |
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SB225
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB225 J. Scott TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO PROVID…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO PROVIDE A CATEGORY FOR BENEFICIARIES WITH SICKLE CELL … | J. Scott | Died in Senate 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 agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ING LOCATIONS FOR AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS OF A HOSPICE AGENCY. 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. |
|
SB269
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB269 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS REGARDING LOCATIONS FOR…”
|
TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS REGARDING LOCATIONS FOR AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS OF A HOSPICE AGENCY. | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB306
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…HIBIT FLUORIDATION OF THE WATER IN THE PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM. SB306 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO APP…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO APPLY FOR A HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB311
Act 772
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…estrictions designating areas as 'Members and Staff Only'. SB311 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE END ORGAN AND GENOMIC HARVESTING ACT…”
|
TO CREATE THE END ORGAN AND GENOMIC HARVESTING ACT; TO PROHIBIT COVERAGE OF CERTAIN HUMAN … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB311 is now Act 772 |
|
SB312
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…OMPLIANCE; AND TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER. SB312 Stone TO REMOVE THE MORATORIUM ON THE CONSTRUCTION OR ADDIT…”
|
TO REMOVE THE MORATORIUM ON THE CONSTRUCTION OR ADDITION OF ANY ADDITIONAL BEDS WITHIN PSYCHIATRIC … | Stone | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB497
Act 655
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…UOUS GLUCOSE MONITORS WITHIN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. SB497 D. Wallace TO REQUIRE THE CREATION OF A POSTER REGARDING VE…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE CREATION OF A POSTER REGARDING VETERANS' BENEFITS AND SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE … | D. Wallace | Notification that SB497 is now Act 655 |
|
SB532
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…ES; AND TO REQUIRE CERTAIN EMPLOYERS TO DISPLAY THE POSTER. SB532 Hester TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELA…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELATING TO THE ASSESSMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER … | Hester | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB556
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…L BEDS WITHIN PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES. SB556 M. Johnson TO PROTECT PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SOURCES; AND TO…”
|
TO PROTECT PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SOURCES; AND TO PROHIBIT SURFACE DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER INTO A … | M. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB557
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. SB557 M. Johnson TO AMENDS LAW CONCERNING WATER PERMITS AND DISCH…”
|
TO AMENDS LAW CONCERNING WATER PERMITS AND DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER; TO AUTHORIZE DENIALS OF APPLICANTS … | M. Johnson | Sine Die adjournment |
|
SB576
Act 623
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…en. Fredrick J. Love REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle 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 |
|
SB585
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “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. |
|
SB587
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB587 G. Leding TO CREATE THE PARENTS' PEACE OF MIND ACT; TO ESTA…”
|
TO CREATE THE PARENTS' PEACE OF MIND ACT; TO ESTABLISH AUTHORIZATION FOR AND USE OF … | G. Leding | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB589
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB589 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE 340B PROGRAM TRANSPARENCY ACT; AND T…”
|
TO CREATE THE 340B PROGRAM TRANSPARENCY ACT; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING TRANSPARENCY AND … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee 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 |
|
SB601
Act 971
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB601 Hester TO CREATE A PATHWAY FOR A GRADUATE OF A FOREIGN MEDI…”
|
TO CREATE A PATHWAY FOR A GRADUATE OF A FOREIGN MEDICAL SCHOOL TO BE LICENSED … | Hester | Notification that SB601 is now Act 971 |
|
SB603
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB603 C. Tucker TO REQUIRE AN AIR AMBULANCE TO CONTACT THE ARKANS…”
|
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. |
|
SB606
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB606 B. Davis TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILIT…”
|
TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT; TO CREATE THE TIRE MANAGEMENT AND … | B. Davis | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB95
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB95 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS ATHLETIC TRAINERS ACT; AND T…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS ATHLETIC TRAINERS ACT; AND TO CLARIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ATHLETE" WITHIN … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1456
Act 852
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1456 Rose TO AMEND THE STATE KIDNEY DISEASE COMMISSION TO BE AN…”
|
TO AMEND THE STATE KIDNEY DISEASE COMMISSION TO BE AN ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE DEPARTMENT … | Rose | Notification that HB1456 is now Act 852 |
|
HB1523
Act 951
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1523 Vaught CONCERNING MISSING PERSONS ALERTS; TO CODIFY THE ARK…”
|
CONCERNING MISSING PERSONS ALERTS; TO CODIFY THE ARKANSAS AMBER ALERT SYSTEM; TO CODIFY THE ARKANSAS … | Vaught | Notification that HB1523 is now Act 951 |
|
HB1619
Act 634
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1619 Gramlich TO SET ADMINISTRATION FEES UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDI…”
|
TO SET ADMINISTRATION FEES UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR IMMUNIZATIONS AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES FOR … | Gramlich | Notification that HB1619 is now Act 634 |
|
HB1682
Act 942
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “HB1682 Puryear TO CREATE THE GOOD NEIGHBOR ACT; AND TO CLARIFY FOO…”
|
TO CREATE THE GOOD NEIGHBOR ACT; AND TO CLARIFY FOOD DONATION LIABILITY AND IMMUNITY. | Puryear | Notification that HB1682 is now Act 942 |
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SB110
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB110 C. Penzo TO AUTHORIZE CERTIFIED NURSE AIDES OR CERTIFIED NU…”
|
TO AUTHORIZE CERTIFIED NURSE AIDES OR CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANTS WHO PROVIDE IN-HOME SERVICES TO BENEFICIARIES … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB221
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ERM CARE FACILITIES. DEFERRED BILLS Number Sponsor Subtitle SB221 B. Davis TO PROHIBIT RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS FROM…”
|
TO PROHIBIT RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS FROM USING CERTAIN TYPES OF CONTRACTING PRACTICES WHEN CONTRACTING WITH … | B. Davis | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB273
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…OVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. SB273 D. Wallace TO REQUIRE DIALYSIS CENTERS TO HAVE A BACKUP GEN…”
|
TO REQUIRE DIALYSIS CENTERS TO HAVE A BACKUP GENERATOR ON SITE. | D. Wallace | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB474
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB474 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS;…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS; AND TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF A … | C. Penzo | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB542
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…EQUIRE DIALYSIS CENTERS TO HAVE A BACKUP GENERATOR ON SITE. SB542 B. Davis TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE…”
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TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; TO IMPROVE THE ENROLLMENT AND SELECTION PROCESS … | B. Davis | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
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SB543
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…GANIZATIONS; AND TO EMPOWER BENEFICIARIES WITH INFORMATION. SB543 B. Davis TO REQUIRE CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR HOME- A…”
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TO REQUIRE CERTAIN REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES WITHIN RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS. | B. Davis | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
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SB598
Act 743
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…Y- BASED SERVICES WITHIN RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS. SB598 J. English TO AMEND VARIOUS LAWS RELATED TO THE DIVISION OF…”
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TO AMEND VARIOUS LAWS RELATED TO THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES; AND TO AMEND THE … | J. English | Notification that SB598 is now Act 743 |
Machine transcript
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- October 2, 2026
If you need to leave, I understand that. Make sure that you sign in for testimony on a bill, but majority of the bills that we're going to hear today are going to be, or tonight
will be Senate bills, but we're going to start with, uh, Representative Shepherd because he's here. And so Representative Shepherd has a bill that we're
going to, um, Present first and uh we have an amendment on this bill and I will make a motion to adopt the amendment. Second, all those in favor say aye and opposed and
then it is adopted, you are now, um, recognized to present House bill.
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
0:46
What number is that 14, 14291429. We are
on House Bill 1429 as amended. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
0:54
Senators, House Bill 1429 is a bill that that I filed uh as
you can see, Representative Johnson, Senator Ervin are my co-sponsors. This was actually brought to me by my local
hospital in El Dorado, um, one of the challenges that exist and and I've had to kind of learn about this and, and there's some doctors here that can testify in favor of this bill as well that could shed more light on it. Is that there you have uh I guess your general screening mammogram and then there can be a follow-up with a diagnostic mammogram, uh, when that is needed for further evaluation. Uh, currently under Arkansas law and under the rules of the
Department of Health, the diagnostic mammogram has to be performed with a radiologist on on site. And that's a problem in rural Arkansas. I believe the testimony from my local hospital in the House committee was that they've not had a radiologist able to be on site uh for the better part of 2 years. And so as a practical matter, um, you have women that need a follow up, need a diagnostic mammogram, they're not able to be provided in rural Arkansas and obviously
it would be preferred that they uh that they uh get to Little Rock or get to some other location where that can be performed with the radiologist on site, but as a practical matter, that's not gonna, not every woman is going to do that. And so this is really uh an accessibility issue. My understanding is that the better over 30 states allow for this to occur, and we actually with Doctor Johnson, Representative Johnson's help. We worked with a number of different radiologists, uh, to
put an amendment on in the house and to state that this would be performed via telemedicine and that radiologists would be immediately available. Uh, we were able to pass it with broad support in the House committee and out of the House. On the Senate end, I believe there's been some radiologists that have raised some issues again on this end, um, the proposed some amendments we, we could agree to some but not all of that and so that's the amendment that you have before you, which provides that the patient, if this is
going to perform, be performed via telemedicine with the radiologist immediately. available through telemedicine that the patient would have to sign a waiver first acknowledging that uh that that this remote access is not that there's limitations compared to in, in person uh access and then secondly, those results need the evaluation results need to be immediately available. And so,
um, you know, I think this is a common sense bill. I think that it's going to provide access. that we need across the state of Arkansas. And it's also, this is a service that many of our rural hospitals are not able to perform right now, but by what, by way of this legislation, we're going to be able to provide this service across the state and I'd be glad to answer any questions. As I said, I have several doctors here that I believe are signed up to speak in favor of it, that could also answer questions as needed.
Senator John Payton
Unverified
4:14
Senator Payton, you recognized? Thank you, Madam chair. I guess this is a curiosity question, but what changed? I mean, I'm certain that the Royal Hospitals used to be
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
4:25
able to do this. I'm not sure. I'm not sure what has changed, um, you know, what brought this to the forefront, I think is like an Elboreida, there were radiologists that might be an El Dorado at the hospital part of a day or one day a week and quite honestly, I think that we have a shortage of radiologists just like we have a shortage of a number of different physicians and nurses,
um, but I'm not sure what ultimately led to this rule in the
Senator John Payton
Unverified
4:49
first place. Well, and it sounds like it may be necessary that we do this, but It's kind of like what came first, the chicken or the egg. I mean, I, I think we've had so many services that have become telehealth and over the communications with, with reading X-rays and stuff like that that the Royal hospital is no longer keep a radiologist on staff, so maybe the shortage became because there was a shortage of jobs, but anyway, I assume this is probably gonna be necessary, so I think so. I
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
5:16
mean, I, I, I don't take uh as you all know, I don't
run many bills in public health. Um, I, I, I take obviously. public health matters very seriously, no doubt that it would be preferred to have a doctor on site, but the fact of the matter, I think they'll be testimony from some of the doctors that are here that they're as high as 30 to 40% of women that need to go back for a diagnostic mammogram in some areas of Arkansas that will never go because it's not immediately available in their
local communities. Thank you. Thank you. I, I too
am confused because I know that we have interpreting physicians that are part of the same health system
that are not on site in Mountain View, Arkansas that are actually in Batesville. So, I mean, I guess that that again when he brought the bill
to me, I was confused just as you were as to why we are not able to continue while we aren't able to do this without the legislation, but I
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
6:16
appreciate the explanation. I think that I'd worked with the governor's and the Department of Health, I think that there could have
been the opportunity to just change some rules, uh, but the feeling was, since we were headed into a regular session, the, you know, just to make sure
it gets done, it made sense to go ahead and bring this this legislation. Yes, did you have a question?
OK, any other questions? Seeing none, OK, uh, we do have uh folks to speak for and against this bill, um, feel come forward, uh, I would just ask you to keep your um comments as brief as you can. Thank you. John Meadows.
Speaker 38
7:24
John Meadows. I'm a radiologist with Radiology Associates, um, to, to your point, you thought that your radiologists
Speaker 39
7:30
read in Mountain View from basesville, and they do. We read every single radiology study that's made. I'm almost never physically in the location where the where the X-rays or CTs or PET scans are generated. This is the only part of radiology that's not that way, and to your point, There are not enough radiologists. There are more
than 3 jobs waiting for every radiology resident finishing in the country and whatever problem we're having now, and it's a crisis and we're in a state where revenue for physicians is down. We're having really trouble, I mean a lot of trouble trying to recruit. We can't recruit against Georgia and Texas, so we don't have enough radiologists. Two of my other partners who are here, they're the ones who are still driving to a lot of these locations. I personally made over 200 trips down to El
Dorado, a lot to Camden. We still cover Warren, Magnolia. A lot of these places, it, it is all about access and you know, I'm not going to bore y'all with all the the heartbreaking stories of the women who they come back a year later and they be it to to try and have a screening. because there are no radiologists there and there's likely not going to be. So a big huge part of this is in fact access. I mean, when you think about the poor and indigent patients here in Pulaski County. I mean, most of the time they
can ride a bus to get where they need to go, but for a lot of these South Arkansas counties and, and even to your point in north central Arkansas. They don't have the, a lot, a lot of homes don't have a car. So I want to shift gears from access. A lot of this comes down to quality as well, and you're going to hear from some radiologists. They're great radiologist. They care and that's why they're here. Um, and they're going, maybe they're going to talk about
ultrasound because that was one of the amendments that was that they tried to put in. I read ultrasounds every day. I read OB ultrasounds. I read gallbladder ultrasounds from hospitals all across the state. But these ultrasound techs there, they're also the ones doing the breast ultrasound. Are they going to be as good as ultrasound tacks at a breast center here in Tulaski County or Faulkner County or Washington and Benton County. No, they're not. In 2008, and that's the earliest white paper that I
remember from the American College of Radiology, they said off-site diagnostic mammography is not ideal. It's best when the radiologist is on site, if the radiologist, if she or he needs to do a breast exam, maybe they're not finding what they want and sometimes you can feel the thing and then you can take the ultrasound probe yourself and put it on there. If we're not on site, then we can't do that. And so we're depending on the ultrasound tech if we know based on the mammogram, there should
be a mass, and if they're not seeing it. Well, we can help them on the mammogram if a woman's there for a calcifications, we can look at the image and we're talking with the techs real time, say you missed them. They're a little bit higher, center higher. But this is really one of the main rubs of this is the quality of the ultrasound text. We cover 23 hospitals in this state. Most of them are rural. We have a lot of experience. I also think it's a little unfair that our radiologist, and we are known as the group that drives to all
these towns. And it's, it's been used against us negatively in recruiting. I think it's unfair that we're having to put our radiologists on the road most days of the week for more than an hour's drive in a lot of cases 2 hours' drive. For those rare cases where there might be an ultrasound tech that is not going to be as good and maybe can't find it. Those instances are rare. You're going to hear from my partners about the quality of these ultrasound techs, and this is not something that I'm pledging
that radiology associates will do in the future. This is something we do now and have done when we go to some of these sites and we realize that the ultrasound techs, their quality is not as good as what we're used to seeing, say, at Saint Vincent's. We bring them to our breast center in Little Rock. They spend a week with us. They're also scanning patients. They're seeing how it's done in a center of excellence. Does that mean they're going to be as good as our ultrasound techs there? No. But they're also going to be the only ultrasound techs in those communities.
And again, this comes down to access, but when you know that every month at El Dorado in in in in Representative Shepherd said 30 to 40% every month looking at the statistics from El Dorado, Union County. 30 to 50% on each on any individual month, they're not getting it. They're not coming back. Some of those women are able to go to either Magnolia or Camden, but a lot of, a lot of them can. I'm sorry, I, I, I
Speaker 41
12:30
know I know I've talked enough, um, and you asked me, you're fine, and I
appreciate, I appreciate any questions? So Sorry, I'm full of questions. Uh,
Speaker 45
12:40
no. At times I wasn't sure whether you were speaking for her or
Senator John Payton
Unverified
12:46
against it when you, when you're saying the quality is not gonna be as good. I mean, I understand you. Access is important. But uh If you think you've been scanned.
And it was negative when actually there's something there that they didn't find. Isn't that a worse situation than knowing that you haven't been checked? No, it.
Speaker 39
13:17
different way. If you do screening mammography in any population, whether it's in Sweden or the United States. We know that those women that undergo screening have a much higher survival rate and their cancers are much more easily treatable versus a population that's not screened.
But I would argue that if you do screening, but you have no way to do the diagnostic mammogram. It's almost like they weren't screened because you can't go to the next step. I mentioned the fact that it's the quality is not going to be as good with the ultrasound techs. The American College of Radiology even said off-site diagnostic telemammography is not ideal, and it should only be reserved for those times when access is an issue. But I, I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna say that every ultrasound tech in the state is capable of doing it.
But the ones that we've encountered that we think are not, we've tried to make better or we've said we won't work with them anymore, but that's, that is going to be an issue because the ultrasound techs aren't going to be as good. Does that mean that we shouldn't do this? No, we absolutely should do this, um, and, and I think that the quality is adequate. Are there going to be women every now and then that I'm looking because normally what would happen, let's say that Delta, Texas man, Dr. Meads, I just didn't feel it. I didn't find it. Well, I get up out of my chair
and I go in there and I scan. And most of the time at the ultrasound tech can't find it, I can't either. Um, but there are going to be those times that I will find something. That's what we're missing, and that's one tiny small piece of the puzzle. That's, that's, that's a very small fraction. I mean, most of the time. Do send texts, they always find it. I almost never have to scan. And that's, and
Speaker 38
14:58
that's true no matter which hospital that I'm at. OK, thank you. Uh
I, I will say this because the opportunity has presented itself, A, we need more radiologists, but we need more doctors. That's why I'm passing the Arkansas rural Preceptorship Program, number one for rural Arkansas, but number and lots of other things. But number 2, we need ultrasound techs. We keep talking about workforce as issues. I am tired of talking about career and ed technical ed centers. We have to have ultrasound technicians. Why? Because when an insurance company
denies a surgery or whatever, they, they require a different procedure and a test. Generally, when they require these type of additional diagnostics, it's gonna be ultrasounds before they go into surgery before because it's a cheaper version before, you know, if we can figure out what it is, then they'll authorize further treatment, but that diagnostic is really critical important that has backed up a ton of ultrasounds, by the way, um, and so, But I would argue that our ultrasound techs that are in
remote locations, particularly in where I've lived all these years because we haven't had a radiologist since Doctor Kearns passed away in Mountain View years and years and years and years ago, but I mean, we have fabulous ultrasound tech technicians. They're so good and, and, and a lot of times, I mean, I
guess I would just have to argue that a lot of times these ultrasound technicians. are very skilled because
they're doing ultrasounds on all kinds of different areas of the body.
So I, I, I think that's really critically important to know, like they're, their training is very, very good, and, and uh, anyway, I, I just think. I
am a huge supporter of these ultrasound technicians because they're, we need probably quadruple the workforce that we have right now. But thank you for your testimony, very, very informative. No other
questions for him. It will go to Against. Got harder.
Sorry, Scott harder? OK. I think one at a time.
Speaker 63
17:24
I think she'll call you. One at a time. I said I called for Scott
Speaker 65
17:27
Harter. Yes, I am Scott Harter. Do you want to pass your time to
Amanda Farrell, OK, OK, Doctor Amanda Farrell. I, I'm uh Doctor Amanda Farrell, thank you for letting me speak,
Speaker 69
17:46
Madam Chairwoman and committee, um, I am a private practice radiologist. I finished training in 2002 and I joined radiology consultants. We're the group that covers the Baptist Health system. I am our, um, I'm the medical director of breast imaging at Baptist Health and I have been since 2006. I did my residency at UAMS and I did a fellowship in breast imaging at Northwestern Memorial
Hospital in Chicago, um, I am against House Bill 1429, um, I'm opposed for a lot of different reasons, but first I wanted to say the most important thing to me is the ultrasound piece, um, and I kind of to explain kind of how breast imaging works. We've done remote screening for years, screening mammograms are done on patients who are having no problems, no symptoms. They come in and they get their basic 4 views. We read the mammogram, we have 30 days
by MQSA, which is the law that regulates mammography and, uh, we've been doing that for years. That's no problem. And in fact, um, White River, there's a fellowship trained breast imager there who reads for Mountain View. She's very good. So, um, diagnostic mammograms are performed on patients who are, they feel something new. Maybe they have some symptoms, fullness in the underarm, maybe they think they have enlarged lymph nodes, they have skin changes, they have nipple
discharge. Their doctor felt something or were following something up. The patient will not leave our department until we have done whatever combination of mammograms and ultrasounds, we need to do. To decide that the patient is OK for another year, so she can come back for her next screening because everything cleared up at the end of all this imaging, or we think everything is fine, it looks pretty good, but there's something we just want to keep our eyes on and we want her to come back for a 6 month follow-up sequence which we
carry out over 2 years. We see them every 6 months. Um, or we decide she needs a biopsy and then we talked to the patient in person once we're done with all that. imaging and give her her results and go all over it and give her a chance to ask any questions at the time of ultrasound, um, we will ultrasound, I mean, even in the breast center, I have experienced texts. Last week there was a patient had a finding the techs couldn't find it. I went in, put the
transducer down, and there it was. I mean, it happens even with experienced technologists, um, but if the patient has a palpable, you go in, you feel it, make sure. you know what you're looking at and then ultrasound yourself, the tech will do it, but most people who feel something new, it's normal breast tissue, so most of the time they're bringing you an image of normal breast tissue, so you don't know. Does that mean did they miss something that's there or is it just one of the average cases where it's normal. So you
go in and scan yourself, feel what they're feeling, and I always like to roll my finger over what they're feeling while I've got the ultrasound there so I can see and I can. the patient, I'm feeling what you felt. Here's the screen. This is normal. So that's what we like to do and um The reason that breast imaging and breast ultrasound is different from other parts of radiology because to Dr. Meadows's point, we have been doing remote ultrasound for
years. I read OB ultrasounds from Baptist Health all over the state, but when you're looking at an OB ultrasound, there are metrics. There are things that you measure. You measure the head circumference at a certain level. The abdominal circumference at a certain level with the when we're doing breast ultrasound, I have one landmark, and it's the nipple, and depending on how the patient is positioned or how pendulous the breasts are, I may say I see something on the mammogram at 3
o'clock, 5 centimeters from the nipple, but that's what the patient standing upright. She's pulled into the machine with compression and um on ultrasound, she's lying on a table on her back, arm above her head, depending on how far up she's rolled, so They don't find you something at 3 o'clock, 5 centimeters to the nipple, they have to know to look in the area, um, so it's not as easy as other parts and as you say, they're a phenomenal
technologists. They do all kinds of studies. They're really skilled people, but having that 3D correlation to look at the mammogram and know where to scan. It's really different, and I find things that my seasoned techs don't find the last time I went to Stuttgart of the 4 patients who needed ultrasound, I rescanned after 3 of them. One was exactly what I wanted. She brought me what I thought I was going to find. The other three, she did not bring me what I
found what I was thinking we would find one was a cancer that I went and I found because I knew where it was going to be. She just didn't find it, you know, she means well. She takes all kinds of call. She, she shows up, but she Didn't find that cancer, um, and 3 of the 4 cases, it was something different, you know. So there's a big difference between Breast ultrasound and general ultrasound because of our one landmark, all these limitations.
The other thing is I don't have a problem with remote diagnostic mammography because When the tech brings me a mammogram image, we have very specific qualities that we're looking for to say it's a quality image to say that we have included all the breast tissue. I'm on the clinical image review can be for the state. We are the accrediting body for many of the mammography facilities in Arkansas, so I'm evaluating film quality at all
times. On a mammogram, I can tell whether or not they have included the area I'm looking at. So it's a very different game. I I don't ever have that feeling of, gosh, did they hit the right area or not? Did they get all the tissue or not because it's apparent on the mammogram whether or not I have they have included all the tissue I need to see and I'm evaluating the mammogram image for quality, so, um. It's very different. I don't have a problem doing a remote diagnostics. The slippery slope
of doing a remote diagnostic is if you call them back for a mass and they're still a mass, the next step is an ultrasound. Um, so. I would still rather not do remote ultrasounds because of that hands-on component and all my friends who are fellowship trained and who are doing remote diagnostics around the country, and yes, it is happening all over the country. They hate it because you have that out of control feeling and you know that for some people. You're not going to do a good
Speaker 70
26:25
It is hard. I will not deny that because we
Speaker 87
26:27
are a poor rural state and we have people who don't have cars and don't have means. Thank you, ma'am. Oh, thanks
to the, wait, wait, wait. Senator Payton had questions. Thank you, Madam Chair,
Senator John Payton
Unverified
26:45
and we need to be brief because it's late. We got a lot of bills, but From what I've gathered real quick here, it seems that you and the previous person that was
for it, both agree we have access problem. You disagree with this bill. He agrees with it. Can you briefly tell me what your suggestion would be on how to handle
Speaker 69
27:07
that, how to help the problem. I would be OK doing a rote diagnostic mammogram, but not doing a remote ultrasounds, and if they need an ultrasound, if they could come to one of the places where there is an on-site. radiologist to do that evaluation so that if, um,
You need to back scan because what's gonna happen is we're going to leave our least experienced ultrasound technologists with the least amount of supervision and backup. So if we can allow, I'm fine doing a remote diagnostic mammogram, but not a diagnostic remote ultrasound, having an on-site radiologist for ultrasound, breast ultrasound, it's, it's makes the whole difference. OK, thank you. Any other questions from members of the committee, then we will
go to somebody who is for it, and then we go to somebody that's against it. Thank you for
your time. Thank you. So we have um sign up to come and speak for it, David. Thomas Taus. Thank you. Thanks for hearing me. I think
Speaker 100
28:20
your questions were excellent, Dr. Senator Peyton and Senator Ervin and Wallace. I'm for this bill. I think it has to happen.
Speaker 102
28:31
My hair skipped gray and went straight to white. I've got more experience than anyone in this room with the greatest respect for Dr. Farrell. You know, somebody just said that it's OK to do OB ultrasound remotely but not breast ultrasound. I'm telling you, I've been in practice 37 years here. I trained at Duke, where I served as chief resident, did my radiology training there. I did extra training and ultrasound. I will tell you, OB ultrasound is one of the hardest things we do. Everybody knows that when you can't walk in the room, it It might be good to be able to
do that practically. You just can't do it. We have been driving in this practice to these remote sites for years. We had to do it because mammograms were on a film and we couldn't send them. Now the game changer is we can do sine ultrasound. We can pan through and send a block of data. It's actually excellent. I was initially against this years ago, but I've come around and now the equipment is so good, the tools are so good that I think we have to do it. I have personally been to sites and
watched the doctors do remote mammography and ultrasound with it, the two go together. You really can't separate them if you're honest, in my opinion. I've done this in North Carolina and in New York City. My mother had breast cancer, so I got involved in this a long time ago. It's an ungracious way to die. All the advanced breast cancers that we see are from the remote parts of the state, ladies just will not go and navigate the Baptist hospital system, which is excellent. They just won't get a mammogram. And so the big cancers, so in the
mammal world, cancer is fixing breast cancers, finding them when they're little. When you don't get a mammogram, you come in with these stage 3 and stage 2B cancers, and these people testify they know that. But I'm telling you this has to happen. They do it in 37 states. I appreciate your support. I'm not going to talk anymore. Are there any questions? Do you have any
questions from members of the committee? I appreciate you being here
and your testimony. Thank you, sir. Thank you for listening. Thank you, Doctor. Um now against. Dr. Scott Harder.
Speaker 108
30:33
Thanks to the committee for hearing our views. I'm Dr. Scott Harder. I've been in practice here for. Thank you. I'm Dr. Scott Hardo. I've been in practice here in Arkansas for 34 years, my entire
Speaker 110
30:46
career. I've been doing mammography and ultrasound for that entire period of time I was in private practice for 28 years, 11 years I was Dr. Matters's job as president and CEO of that practice, right over a quarter million and examined it, breast examinations during my career. And I've driven thousands of
miles in this state to do this study, this mammography and ultrasound the way it should be done. Which is with a radiologist present. I have a lot of passion for my job. I love my patience. I love my job. The I'm here today because I think there's a lot of negative impacts of this too. Any for years across the United States, diagnostic mammography and ultrasound were only performed in the presence of
radiologist, and why? Because it's self-evident. It's obvious that's the right way to do it. The only safe way to do it. It's, yes, it started a few years ago, some for, you know, for economic and convenience reasons, uh, people started doing remote diagnostic mammography and ultrasound. They could. The states never thought that anyone would want to do it otherwise. So there's a loophole there, they can't, but here in this, in the great state of Arkansas back in the 80s, we
wanted to do it right. So we codified this and said you've got to have a radiologist on site. That's the way we want to do it and it needs to be. done. Uh, again, it's just self-evident that this is the safe way to provide really good care for our patients. You know, this bill is an act to increase accessibility while ensuring quality
Speaker 122
32:31
for certain facilities for performing mammography. You could entitle it an act to increase accessibility to Lesser care.
Speaker 110
32:40
For here, maybe bad medicine. Only one radiology group in this, in our state is For this Two of the representatives have spoken have spoken well. Uh, tonight
Speaker 122
32:52
about why they think it's a good idea. Uh this group assimilated
Speaker 110
32:58
many small practices including the one Camden, Mark, I mean, excuse me, Camden, El Dorado back in the 80s and I mean, it should be the 90s and 2000s, you know, that, that was their business model. I don't blame them. It
was a Good for them, but every business model has its risks and its rewards, and then they, you know, financially lucrative over the years covering these practices, but now when things are tough, when they don't want to drive to these places anymore. Like it should, and then now I want to change the rules. And decrease the level of care. The majority of radiologists in this, in the state do not support this. Like I said, one group of
radiologist, not a single fellowship trained breast imager, a person who is trained to be an expert in breast imaging in Arkansas is supportive of this bill. That's something. These are the people who are the best in our state. Those who can
speak into the mic. These are the
Speaker 132
33:59
people who are recognized. You're on video feed.
So you want to speak into the mic, so everybody can see you and hear you. It's OK. I't done
Speaker 122
34:12
this before. I know it's OK. But this none of
Speaker 110
34:18
them favor this bill. No, I don't think it's a good idea. Um, it's interesting all this comes, you know, all this pressure to do this comes in El Dorado where a competitor Carti is placing a breast center that's opening this month with a fellowship trained breast imager at that location. It would be a limited capacity at first, but over time
Speaker 122
34:37
it'll expand. So in closing, I'd urge you to
Speaker 110
34:43
vote to maintain these high standards in breast care in Arkansas. Standards that we can be proud of and we should be proud of, continue to provide the best care that we can, even if it's inconvenient. For Arkansans. I say vote no to House Bill 1429, and I thank you, I thank the committee. I thank Dr. Farrell, Dr. Meadows, Dr. Thomas, who are their I appreciate y'all hearing our points of view. Thank you. Do you do you mind answering a
question for me real quick. OK, thank you. Uh, now where are you located again? I
Speaker 122
35:19
work at the university now. I've been, uh, I was in
Speaker 110
35:22
private practice for 28 years and I've been at the university for years, and all I do is bust OK, uh, but you're here individually
or on behalf of you, OK, just want to make sure
we clarify that. And then do you travel anywhere? Not now. I have I
Speaker 122
35:38
have traveled all over the state, driven thousands of
Speaker 110
35:44
miles, doing this, going to places to do. Andography and ultrasound because I, as Doctor Ferrell echoed or said it's so different doing breast ultrasound. That's
Speaker 122
35:54
the kind of care that you want, Senator. I live in Mountain View, so I live in Mountain View,
so, um, just a quick question, 80s, I think it said you is when this was codified. Is that correct? OK. Technology clearly has
advanced. Would you agree with that? OK, so, and what year did the 3D Imaging come on board
for mammography. I know Baxter Health and Mountain Hill was one of the first
Speaker 122
36:28
in the state in 2014. OK, and then more your gradual adoption by different practices into
Speaker 110
36:35
the last strong adopt and still being adopted. It's not quite everywhere yet, though it has a high penetration and the remote mammography
units. That go out I have no problem with. It's the ultrasound
Speaker 110
36:49
deal. I mean that, you know, being able there to talk to that patient, you'd ask them questions. He their symptoms, not just see what's written on a piece of paper, but see that person and if you need to lay hands on their breasts. Feel this. Is that, is is this feel, does this feel like what these pictures look like, the, the ultrasound tech sent, um, I'm not sure about that. Then I put my hand on there, you know, I
scanned myself. find it Dr. Matters says that rarely does he scan his patients. Um, a skin almost everyone, and I find things all the time that my breast and that my techs who, that's all they do is, you know, breast they do mammography, breast ultrasound. They're very good at it. They miss stuff or misinterpret stuff all the time that Tellery on tele um You know, on tele ultrasound, you are not going to see, you are not going to, we're gonna give people.
False reassurance that they're OK. Through this method. Senator, to your point of view a moment ago, that's um that's not good. You have a question. To
Speaker 154
37:58
recognize for question. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator John Payton
Unverified
38:08
said my veins in my neck might be clogged up and they've done an ultrasound. Yes sir. They said it was clogged up and I needed. To consider surgery.
A month later, the surgeon does an ultrasound, says no, it's not that bad. And then I think it was a couple of years later, the 3rd ultrasound. So it's all gone. As far as I know, all these, all three of these were performed in Hebrew Springs and they were sent. Via computer to somebody down there in Little Rock that was reading them. So how is that different than what we're talking about with the breast imaging.
Speaker 115
38:55
As Doctor uh Farrell mentioned the breast is just a different thing. I mean, it's unique.
Senator John Payton
Unverified
39:00
I mean, so legally, as far as the Arkansas code. They can diagnose and determine whether or not my veins are blocked. With the ultrasound being done in Heber Springs and Redd and Little Rock. Is that correct? OK. And, and so So this would be quite. The breast imaging to But, yes, this would would say
Speaker 122
39:27
that breast imaging is no more complicated than, you know, anybody can do
Speaker 110
39:32
it and do a good job with it, which is just not true. Um, so it's going to lower the standards that were set back in the 1980s appropriately and kept for many years that a radiologist ought to be present for this examination. It's unique and special, but our women are special, our grandma's wives. Daughter's, aunts, nieces, they deserve the best we can give.
And this is not it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions from members of the committee? All right, thank you. Thank you for your testimony and just doctor. Ferrel demon is coming back and just stating for me again, you, uh, Your name and who you're with, but you're here as an individual, is that correct? I just want to make sure we're clear for the record. OK, yeah,
Speaker 158
40:22
I am, um, a member of Radiology Consultants. We're the group at Baptist Health, and I am here on
behalf of my group. Radiology consultants. OK, thank you. Thank you so much. Just
needed to have that part of the record. OK. Lastly, we have somebody for the bill, Dr. John. OK, come
Speaker 161
40:38
forward. You can state your name for the record for me, and
I apologize. Sometimes I don't get to read. I'm married John Fra. I work with Radiology Associates. I've
John Fravel
Unverified
40:51
been with them for 27 years. And I've been doing mammography the entire time as well, um.
Speaker 167
41:00
I have 2 points I want to make, um. With regard to imaging, one is, as you've said, technology has advanced over the years and there are machines available now where you can video conference with the technologists and watch them scan. You're not relying on them just to do a scan and send you pictures. You can actually watch them scan the patient and video conference with the technologist at the same time that doing the imaging and determine whether or not they're in the right spot or
not. It's not a guess anymore. Um, the other thing is I want to point out was that the rare cases that we're talking about where something could get missed or non-palpable lesions when the patient comes in with a palpable mass. I don't care if the technologist is in magnolia, Camden, Warren, or Little Rock. They're not going to miss a palpable mass. They're going to know where those lesions are. They're going to scan over the area of palpable concern, and there's either going to be a lesion there or there's not.
So the concern that we have are the patients that have non palpable masses that are detected on mammography. And on screening mammography and we're bringing them in for not only a diagnostic mammogram, but also a diagnostic ultrasound. Majority of cases that we have with non-palpable masses where things are not seen are put back in follow up. They're not just forgotten about for a year. They are allowed to come back at a 3-month interval or 6 month
interval and be scanned again. So if there's something small, and it continues to get larger, we're going to find it. It happens all the time. It's happening now. It's not something that's going to happen in the future if we miss something by ultrasound. We're seeing lesions like that now. So It's a myth to think that if We missillusion. They're going to develop a cancer that gets undetected and they're going to die from that cancer. We follow these things if we don't.
If we, if if they're small, we think they're benign, we follow them. If we see something on the mammogram, we don't see something with ultrasound, we can follow it or we can do an additional test called an MRI. So there are other options as opposed to just letting it go and forgetting about it for a year. The third point that I want to make though is on the side of manpower, you know, we are short. We're not. We're not putting out new radiologists in order to fill
the need that we have for radiologists and right now, as Doctor Metis points out, I'm one that travels uh to go to Magnolia takes me about 2 hours to drive there and 2 hours to get back home. That's 4 hours that I could be sitting at a computer looking at patients and Performing their diagnostic exams rather than being in the car driving to get there. So if, if you saved me 4 hours a day for an entire month, that's
probably 100 to 200 patients that we could work up. Utilizing this new technology and keeping me out of the car from driving. I'm happy to drive if that's what You're asking me to do? Because I want these people to be taken care of. That's why I go, but if I could use my time more efficiently, it'd be much more appreciated. So I just have a quick
question. Talk to me about follow up. OK, so process.
But the process of follow-up? Yeah, I mean. We don't go from a mammogram immediately to an ultrasound. Correct. So just
Speaker 167
44:52
walk me through the timeline of that. The majority of cases that We do in our Office when somebody comes in with a positive screening mammogram. They'll get a diagnostic mammogram that will be the first step that we usually take. Now with Tomography that's changed somewhat. Because, um,
Tomography is like doing a CT scan of the breast. A lot of times you'll get enough detail on the initial screening mammogram that has tomography where you can go straight to ultrasound to determine if what we're looking at is something cystic or something solid. If it's solid, we need to make a decision. Do we need to biopsy it or are we going to follow it? If it's cystic, we're finished with it. And they go back into the screening pool, OK? And when does the ultrasound then
come into play. The ultrasound comes in to play after the diagnostic
Speaker 167
45:44
exam is done. OK, if the diagnostic exam is done for. A mass, then the ultrasound will be done to determine if that mass is cystic or solid. OK, so we
do a regular mammogram. And then if that comes back, we do a diagnostic mammogram. Is
this all in one day for the patient? No, the screening mammograms done
Speaker 169
46:05
separately. The patient comes, has their screening mammogram, and leaves the office doesn't. OK. Does it say a physician. So
then that's read and interpreted. They're given a
phone call, then they come back, correct? And they do diagnostic, correct? Diagnostic mammogram usually or sometimes, like I said, they
Speaker 167
46:21
will go straight to ultrasound, but the majority of our patients get a diagnostic mammogram and then an ultrasound if if needed, same day. Yes, OK. Yes, right, but sometimes not the same day.
Correct? So like if there's a diagnostic mammogram. I'm just saying. If they get a diagnostic mammogram in our
Speaker 169
46:46
office, and we think they need an ultrasound, then they'll get
Speaker 167
46:51
it that day. OK, unless they can't stay and then they can come
back at another time, OK, OK, but is, is there any hurdles that you have to jump through for prior-authorization in order to go straight to the ultrasound, OK it's
Speaker 167
47:02
usually pre-approved once by the time the patient gets there. OK. All right, thank you. But I think just to clarify, so if If we see something that we don't think is a cancer.
And we're going to, we're going to follow it up. That patient will come back at, at a six-month interval to see if it has changed. That if it is a cancer, has given it time to grow and to present itself as a cancer, as, as opposed to just a small nodule that we're not quite sure if it's a cancer or not. Um If, if it's, if we see something on the mammogram and we don't see something on ultrasound. We can order an MRI or we can get a follow-up ultrasound. So we're
not just letting the patient go for another year. They're getting followed closely, so whether, whether this bill passes or
not, they're still getting that follow up in person, if there's a a real issue that's that's gonna be
seen and like I said, the technology that's
Speaker 169
48:01
available now, we can watch the technologists do the scan to know that they're scanning in the right place. Any questions from
members of the committee. All right, see you then. Thank you so much for your testimony, Representative Shepherd. recognized clothes for your bill. Are there any other questions?
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
48:18
Thank you. All right, Representative Shepherd. Good. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you, members of the committee. I appreciate the testimony from
all sides on this issue. I appreciate the the passion that all of these providers have for high quality care and, you know, as I said at the outset, not something I take lightly, um. You know, this was brought to me by my local hospital. They raised this issue. They had brought it up to me actually over the course of the last couple of years, um.
I think that with this bill we've added the amendments that have, I think, provide additional assurance. I mean, number one, the immediate availability via telemedicine, but then secondly, with the amendment we just placed on it today, requiring the patient to sign uh the disclosure and notifying them, um, you know, Clearly if if it's if it's, you know, if it's my family that's, that's being referred for treatment.
I'm going to do whatever I can to get them the best care available, um, And we have with this, with the disclosure, we're notifying people of the fact that in person would be preferred, but my motivation in bringing this relates back to, well, two things. Number 1, I believe the testimony was 37 states allow this, but the number 2, I think it was Dr. Meadows that, that it corrected my number that of the patients they follow 30 to 50% from El Dorado would not even have that follow-up.
And so Clearly in a perfect world, we would prefer in person. We don't live in a perfect world. We have an access issue and we're trying to address that with this bill. Thank
you. All right, what is the pleasure of the
committee? Motion all is there any discussion? All right, all those in favor say aye and opposed. I have it, congratulations, Chief passed your bill. Senator Davis, Senate Bill 576.
You'll state your name for the record, you're recognized to present Senate Bill 576. Thank you, Madam
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
50:43
Chair, Brianne Davis, state Senate District 25. Um, Senate Bill 576 is just really a simple update. Um, currently in law it talks about um with the use of insulin 2 or more times daily, um, you, uh, can be eligible for a continuous glucose monitor and I just struck that and said in
accordance with Medicare policy. The truth is, um, things are always changing at the federal level on what qualifies people for different things like CGMs, um. And quickly our laws are antiquated, which is why we originally had the 2 or more times, and that's changed just in the last 4 years since we've passed that. So I just put it to mirror what they're doing at the federal level to ensure that any changes they make, it's consistent with Arkansas. I'm happy to take any questions. Senator Payton.
Senator John Payton
Unverified
51:38
Thank you, Madam Chair. So what is their
current policy? Um, one or more pumps. A
day OK. Thank you. kind of defeats the purpose of continuous glucose monitoring if you're limiting it to 2 times
Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
51:57
a day. Yeah, and really and really the technology has gotten so much better with CGMs that people are using less pumps and having less, um, health issues, and so it's really good long term, yeah. Any other additional
questions? Is there anyone here to speak for or against this
bill? No. Right, so you're closed. I'm closed. Thank
you. All right. Motion do pass 2nd, all those in favor say aye and opposed. I have it. Congratulations, you've passed your bill, Senator Wallace, 497.
Um, members, I would just stay, uh, I think tornadoes. We're on the ground in the state
of Arkansas right now, so just, um, Take a moment, Senator Wallace, we know that your area has been hit, um, you want to lead us in some prayer for the people of the state of Arkansas right
now, members, everybody in the Ramy field joined us in a moment of prayer. Senator Wallace will lead us in. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
52:57
We've we've had 5 towns already hit in One set in Greghead County. Oh
Lord, please watch over our people back home. Watch over Arkansas.
Please protect our families, our homes. Our people. Lord, thank you for the love and for the blessings you have given us. In Jesus'
name, Amen. Come in, thank you. well, you're recognized to present Senate
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
53:29
Bill 497. Thank you, ma'am. State Senator Dave Wallace, District 19. Members, this is a very simple bill. It's a bill that will help our veterans. Um
We're establishing A poster that will be placed in companies over the size of 50 people. Uh And they'll be required to
post this and it will help our veterans. It tells them things such as Where they can
have contact information for the Department of the VA. Uh, where they have contacts for substance abuse and mental health treatment for educational opportunities for tax benefits.
And For Adams such as unemployment or to pick up your VAID, um. And also most importantly, contact information for the hotline. As you know, we have 19 veterans today that commit suicide. This will only apply to an employer in the state with 50 or more uh full time employees in this bill has or this laws are currently already infected numerous
states, uh, throughout the country. And with that, I stand by for your questions. Thank you. Are there
any questions from the members of the committee. I would just
say it's an excellent bill. I would have loved to have co-sponsored it with you. I appreciate it, but and it's also no cost to the employer. None. a piece of paper that
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
55:04
they can print off. Thank you. Any questions from
members of the committee. See none. Is there anyone here to speak for or against this bill.
See none, you're close recognized to clothes. I
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
55:18
am clothes and make a motion do pass. Motion
to pass. Second, all those in favor say aye and opposed, I have
it. Senate Bill 497 is passed. Thank you, members. OK, Senate Bill 532. I don't believe he's going to Run that Senator Johnson here 557. Sinner stone, 312.
Johnson letting 585. You're up. Senator Greg Letting
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
55:59
District 30. I'll have my guests introduce themselves as well. OK, thank you. Please
identify yourself for the record. You may be recognize. My name is Samuel McCuller. Like
That's OK. It's in. There's a tornado in center Wallace's hometown right now. Certainly understand, OK, please proceed. We'll
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
56:29
be very brief. The bill is pretty straightforward. This is just about adding a little protection for minors by making sure that they get a pay stub when they are paid in part to help teach financial literacy, but also so that they can see what they have earned for the hours that they have worked. I want to credit the individuals who are here. We have 2 more in the audience who I believe are going to speak in support of this legislation. They have worked for months on
this, going back and forth with different law. m ak ers also talking to the state chamber. In fact, there is some language down below the chamber wanted to make sure that we limited this to companies with more than 10 employees, and so we incorporated that feedback um and really it's really that simple. I will
Speaker 206
57:10
to thank y'all for hearing this bill today. It's something that's really important to me personally, and I want to thank Senator Leding for allowing me to come present this bill. It's my first time,
so I'm a little nervous, so, go right ahead. Thank you. Um, so imagine this, a 16 year old gets their first paycheck. They worked long hours after school balancing their job with homework and responsibilities at home, but when they look at their pay stub, if they even receive one, it's unclear. Deductions may be taken out, but they may not know why. The total pay may not seem to match the hours they worked, but they don't know how to check, and if they ask questions, they may just be brushed off or ignored. This is the reality for a lot of working miners in the state of
Arkansas right now. Employers are not required to provide clear written pay statements to minors who are particularly vulnerable to underpayment or miscalculation. Um, I feel like this is a pretty common sense bill, pretty common and solution like letting said it's fairly simple. It just ensures that minor workers, people who are particularly at risk and vulnerable, just get a detailed written breakdown of their pay, just like most adult workers in most places in this country already do.
Um, I really don't think this is going to create any kind of excessive paperwork. There's no requirement like there's no um Uh, format that someone has to follow. This could be as easy as there are systems already where it automatically texts people. That's what my last job did. It's very easy for employers and employees that equally and it protects both of these parties as well. Yeah.
But uh I'd love if you guys have any questions for me or anything
like that. OK. Are there any questions from the members of the committee?
We're on 585. OK. Thank you for your testimony and being here tonight. Um, we do have some folks here. Uh, for the
bill, is that correct? Tyler and Leila. Is that correct? so it's just. I will, that makes sense
OK, just, just when you come to the table, then you can that's OK. Tyler's actually, he had to go
Speaker 214
59:31
to work at 4. He was here earlier. I do have his written testimony if you want me to read it, but I don't, I don't know if
y'all do that or not. Oh no, it's fine. Just state
Leela Chisholm
Unverified
59:41
your name for the record. My name is Leila Chisholm. I need to say beforehand I'm here not representing my employer, but as an individual, but I will have to reference my employment because it is part of my testimony that Go with it. So, um, I wanna thank you all for staying over with the tornadoes. Uh, my name is Leila Chisholm. I serve as the assistant payroll manager
for the city of Littleal. I'm so sorry. One moment, Senator
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:00:03
Payton, thank you. I'll just have a point of order and. We hear her testimony, but she really can't read somebody else's testimony, right? We're just, we're just it's,
Speaker 223
1:00:11
it's I have his if it was able, but I know that that's probably not. It's OK. OK, you're fine. Go right
Leela Chisholm
Unverified
1:00:18
ahead. Um, again, um, I'm Leila Chisholm. I am the assistant payroll manager for the City of Little Rock, um. I've worked in finance my entire career with payroll being a
heavy part of my responsibility, ensuring thousands of workers get paid correctly and on time. Today I'm here to urge you to support SB 585, which would guarantee that minor workers receive pay stubs every year, the city of Little Rock hires over 300 young people in our summer internship program, and as part of that, they receive pay stubs and training on how to read them, learning how to track their hours, understand deductions, and manage their earnings for many, for many, this is their very first paycheck and this education sets them up for financial responsibility. In the future. Payroll isn't always simple. At the city, we run payroll every 2 weeks, which
is 26 times a year, but mistakes happen. Last year alone, we had a process over 40 extra payrolls which are outside of our regular schedule because time entries were entered incorrectly by the departments. Almost every time it's a worker that catches this mistake after reviewing their pay stub. Without that tub, they wouldn't know that they were being underpaid in most instances, but this isn't just about making sure workers get what they earn, pay stubs also protect employers. The City of Little Rock employs over 2500 employees. And my division processes hundreds of payroll changes every cycle. We've seen cases
where workers claim months later that they've they've signed up for deductions and demand refunds, sometimes for hundreds and even thousands of dollars when workers receive a pay stub each pay period, they have a clear and consistent record of their earnings and deductions. This not only helps them address the discrepancies promptly, but also protects employers from fraudulent or mistaken refund refund claims by ensuring transparency and accountability, uh, minor workers are some of our most vulnerable employees that we have. They may not know that they should be receiving documentation. let alone how to check for mistakes, guaranteeing pay stubs for young workers, uh, this bill will ensure that they get paid
fairly, they'll learn financial literacy and are protected from payroll errors, and I urge that y'all will support this bill because it's a simple step that will make a very big difference for them, and I thank you for your time and I'll take any questions. Thank you.
Are there any questions from the members of the committee, Senator Peyton. Thank you. I thought
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:02:17
I heard your resume, but you must have skipped flight attendant, I'm sorry, I, when I get nervous
Speaker 214
1:02:22
I talk kind of fast. I'm sorry. This is the first time I've done this. Do I need to read it again? I'll slow it
Speaker 223
1:02:33
I I can try to actually, I don't know if I
Speaker 225
1:02:35
can slow it. I will try, but I can. You're
Leela Chisholm
Unverified
1:02:40
fine I just, I just really, my testimony is just that I've worked in payroll, I've done this professionally for well over, I've been doing payroll for well over 15 years and constantly we see errors and it's always the workers that catch it and pay stubs are just in 8 other states, this is only 8 states that do not give pay stubs out to any workers, so yeah, appreciate your testimony. You did
Speaker 66
1:02:58
a good job. You did a great job. All right, um, and then we have Kristen Harper.
Speaker 231
1:03:07
Speaking for. Thank you. Good evening, Kristen Hofer, Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, and Arkansas advocates has worked for almost 50 years to support public policy that serves all kids and families, so that's why we're asking you to vote for SD 585, giving minors access to their pay stubs is an important teaching teaching tool in financial literacy. Teens can learn how to track their gross pay deductions, learn what those deductions go towards, and it
can be an important tool in learning how to budget. It's also a really important safeguard for these young adults against potential. bad actors who might try to take advantage of youth. Um, receiving a pay stub is a way for them to ensure the hours they worked are correctly recorded and in turn that they were compensated accordingly. Part-time work for teens teaches important lessons, right? Um, builds confidence, teaches lessons in time management and personal finance, but we always want to make sure that kids are working in safe environments, um, and that means more than
just physical safety, providing paystubs, um, providing youth with their pay stubs, protects our kids, so I ask you to please vote for SB 585. Thank
Speaker 232
1:04:16
you. Thank you. Are there any questions from the members of the
committee, right? See you then, thank you for your testimony, Senator, letting, you're recognized to close for your bill. Thank you committee. I would just simply ask for a good vote
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
1:04:32
and I move to pass. OK, 2nd, the discussion, right? All
those in favor say I and opposed as have it. Congratulations, you've passed your bill. Thank you. Great job on your testimonies. Thank you. Um, oh, Senator Lenny, we should have put a House member on that bill. Yeah. Can I get a motion to expunge the vote by Senate Bill 585 passed, uh, second, I'll have some papers say I am opposed. I
we have 5, so you just like me to verbally amend on a house sponsor hold on so motion to expunge the vote by which Senate Bill 585 has passed. All those in favor say aye unopposed as habit. The vote is expunged, um, motion to suspend the rules to allow for a verbal amendment of adding a house sponsor, so moved. Second, all those in favor say aye and opposed, I have it. Motion to add representative
Diana Gonzalezor, OK, uh, 2, all those in favor say I and opposed. I have it. And to um motion to pass Senate Bill 585 as amended. Second, I'll let some papers say I and opposed, I
have it. Thank you. OK. Senator Penza 217. You ready?
To No, we're doing Senate bills. You have 217. That's the one.
Speaker 252
1:06:27
Of Senator Hill. Yeah. You need Senator Hill. Oh, OK. Actually.
OK. I mean, she has 606. Do we want to go to 606. Do.
OK, this is Senate Bill 217. OK, so if you'll state your name for the record and your guest and you may proceedenzo District 31. Greg Fister with
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:07:04
FGA Action. You have an amendment. Is that correct? OK, so let's go ahead and pass that amendment now.
I apologize. OK, um, do you want to
Speaker 264
1:08:16
explain the amendment? Madam Chair, the amendment tackles one thing, and that is the definitions in the bill
Speaker 265
1:08:22
for candy and soft drinks to allow the governor's office and the department maximum flexibility to negotiate with the United States Department of Agriculture. OK, got you. OK, so a motion to adopt the amendment
and 2nd, all those in favor say aye. And a post I have it and then it is adopted. Please proceed with your presentation
Speaker 265
1:08:55
thank you, Madam Chair. Again, my name is Greg Fitra. I'm with FGA Action FJA Action is a nonprofit, nonpartisan advocacy organization that seeks to improve the lives by advocating for public policy based on the principles of free enterprise, individual liberty, and limited accountable
government. I'm here today to support Senate Bill 217, a bill that promotes accountability and will help make our Kansans healthier. The bill is simple and it's in line with the governor's recent announcement. It really just does two things. One, directs the department to file a waiver with the USDA to clarify that soda and candy will not be included in the food stamp program, and the second thing that it does is it
authorizes the department to refile that waiver if for some reason it is not accepted by USDA. Um I want to start by saying that this bill is not here to pick a fight with soda or candy or any one item that's not what this is about. I think we all know that if we get too focused on one example, we're going to miss the bigger picture. The fact is that SNAP, the supplemental nutrition assistance program or food
stamps is funded with taxpayer dollars, and it's meant to help people get the food that they need. The law says the purpose is to help families afford more nutritious diet and to fight hunger and malnutrition. That's the mission. And I think that most folks, regardless of where you sit politically, can agree that if that's the purpose, the program should reflect that. So the question isn't shouldn't someone be able to buy soda. The question is, does the program still line up with what it was created to do.
If it does, great. If it doesn't, then let's be honest and make some adjustments. It's not about being punitive in any way. It's about Being responsible, and it's about making sure that the program does what it says it's going to do. We owe that to families who rely on SNAP and the taxpayers who fund it to keep the purpose front and center. Senate Bill 212 or 217 accomplishes that in a reasonable way. It's a win for health, for common sense, and for Arkansas and for those
reasons I ask you to support Senate Bill 217. Thank you again, Madam Chair, and I'm happy to stand for any questions. OK, are there questions for
You, um, Any questions from members of the committee? seen none.
Is there anyone here to speak for or against this bill?
Speaker 59
1:11:47
Uh, yes, you're Mr. Feister. Is that correct? Yeah, he's 4. Mary
Anne McIntyre. Committee Sara Mary Ann McIntyre here. No.
Speaker 59
1:12:10
she's for it, so she may not be here,
but her name is listed as 4, so we'll just read that for the
record. OK, uh, You recognized and clothes for your bill. I'm close to the building and
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:12:28
ask for a good vote as amended, all
those in favor say I and opposed. I have
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:12:40
it. Thank you. Thank you. All right.
Uh, bill passes as amended. OK. Uh, let's see, Senator. Senator Pino. Um, if somebody can get Senator
Tucker, Senator Leding Senator Hill Senator Hill, do you have a bill? OK, is it a Senate bill trying to get through Senate bills I don't know if it's or not. You didn't
Um, OK, I don't have you as a senate. I'm going through Senate bills, um, so we'll just go to Senator Tucker is here. There he is. This is 603. Thank you, Madam
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:13:44
Chair. With your permission, I'm going to invite former Representative Andy Davis to join me at the table. Yes,
you'll both come to the table and state your name. You're recognized for Senate Bill 603. Clark Tucker State
Speaker 285
1:13:56
Center, District 14. Andy Davis from Pla County, just to be clear, here I'm my own person tonight, not working. I'm sorry, what? I'm here for myself tonight. I'm
Speaker 286
1:14:12
not working, OK, thank you. It's a good thing it's 7:30 p.m.
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:14:15
OK, please proceed. I'm going to I'm, I'm going to let Mr. Mr. Davis explained. Why he brought this to my attention because it's an issue that I think needs addressing, given what happened to his family, and I'll I'll let him tell his story. Thank you.
Speaker 287
1:14:29
Thanks, Senor Tucker. Thank you committee members, I know you can read
Speaker 285
1:14:33
the bill. It's pretty simple, pretty straightforward. Just tell you a quick story, uh, last year, my wife's family was traveling to Fayetteville to attend a Razorback game and unfortunately, some of them were involved in a very bad car accident on I-49, uh, 2 of the occupants of the vehicle were my niece and nephew, their 6-year-old twins. They were 6 at the time. Um
Not to belabor all the details, but my 6 year old niece Emma was med-flighted to a hospital in Oklahoma and at the time they didn't know everything that was wrong with her, but when she got there, they realized she had a tear in her aorta and that hospital was not able to provide her with the surgery she needed. So after a flurry of phone calls and who do you know and so, so, you know, back and forth and
whatnot and people driving all over the country trying to get to these kids. Um, Children's Hospital in Little Rock actually ended up having to fly from Little Rock to Tulsa to pick her up and bring her back to Little Rock to have surgery. Um, this of course all kind of seemed kind of odd, you know, you don't want to make so many trips, so on and so forth, um, a couple of days after the surgeons came and spoke to Emma's parents while she was still in the hospital and asked
why they went to Tulsa, and she said I don't know when they AMT left the ground. We thought they were coming a Little Rock and then they text the mom and say we're going to Tulsa. Um, so the surgeons looked and told us later that the A A EMT did not call the trauma system and ask where should we go? So I don't know that this bill fixes every problem. But it just seems common sense
to me that if an accident and an injury is bad enough to call an air EMT. Then it's bad enough to use the state trauma system. that we have that we find that we set up that is there for that purpose. Um, I'll be honest with you, I'm told that this is actually in a rule for the trauma system. It's not always followed, apparently, um, I think that this would probably just start a bigger conversation, uh, so. As Senator Tucker to present
this bill to start that conversation so we can start to find out what else needs to be done here and hopefully we don't waste hours on a child's life when they need to get to the right place at
the right time. Thank you, uh, Senator Peyton, you're recognized for
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:17:24
questions. Thank you, Madam Chair. obviously sympathize with your situation and would not challenge the fact that maybe they did something wrong or or made a
mistake or could have made a better decision. But
I'm a pilot. And that aircraft has a pilot. And the FAA says that that pilot is full authority. To take
that aircraft wherever he needs to take it. Or she According to weather conditions and fuel reserves and and things like that. I agree with something needing to be done. Matter of fact, I've
had situations in my district with people that are very close to me where the air ambulance. Did not Act
in what I would say was the the right way, you know. But
I don't think that the trauma center has air traffic controllers or pilots on staff. take into consideration all the things. They have to be taken into consideration before you lift off the ground. And strike a coordinates.
In a certain direction. And then trauma situation where that pilot's trying to get in and out of maybe some tight locations that aren't even airports. We're going to have to make allowance in this bill. With some language. The, the recognizes the fact that the Maybe the trauma center can make a recommendation, but, but the pilot's authority.
To keep the aircraft safe involves more than just the injured person. I mean there's a medical team on board. Usually 2 or 3 people plus the pallet, maybe a co-pilot. There's a lot of lives at stake when he lifts off the ground or she. And, and we can't. Allow unqualified personnel at a trauma center. To demand that that aircraft go to a certain destination. So I think, I think we have to consider language for this bill.
That'll take into consideration those those problems. Senator, the only rebuttal
Speaker 285
1:19:44
I would have to that I mean obviously there are physical constraints within flying that would have to be considered, but I would just reiterate, this is already in rule, so I would assume that those things have been thought out and considered when the rules were written. This just adds the weight of law to the existing rule. I appreciate that. I just don't think
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:20:03
they were just like this bill, those things weren't weighed out or considered when
it was drafted. Senator, if I may respond.
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:20:11
And if the language is ambiguous, then maybe it does need an amendment, but And The way I read the language in the bill is The only thing that the air ambulance has to do is contact the trauma system. They don't have to do what they say. They shall contact for direction. For direction, but Uh, and it doesn't
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:20:34
say their ambulance service. It says the air ambulance, yeah.
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:20:42
That's right. On the best destination. I don't read that as saying they have to go where the trauma, Arkansas trauma system says they go.
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:20:49
Well, I think it'd be prudent to clarify that in the language if
Speaker 291
1:20:53
we're going to put it in code. Appreciate it.
Any other questions from members of the committee? seen
no other questions. Is there anyone here to speak for or against the bill, Senate Bill 603, seeing none, you're
recognized to close for your bill. Madam Chair, Admittedly,
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:21:15
I don't have a lot of experience in this committee, this session. I don't know where y'all are at on verbal amendments. But if you're open to it, if you're not open to it, I respect it. That's the, that's the decision of the committee and the chair, but if you're open to it, I'd like to make a suggestion. What's your suggestion and
then I'll tell you if our committee is OK with it or not. I'll make a verbal amendment to
out a house member because you need a house member. I
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
1:21:49
do need a House member. I've been in communication with a House member about it, but I don't feel comfortable adding that person just yet, so.
Anyway I'll tell you what, why don't you, why don't we pull it down? Why don't you work to get an amendment. Uh, I know that Miss Beel, bless her heart, is watching us, and she's very good at getting themends for us, but why don't you work on that, Senator Payton?
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:22:14
Well, I might have a suggestion that one word could
could possibly change this. Go ahead on 26, the last word where it says direction if they could live with same suggestion, I was gonna put, I was
gonna say suggested direction. Would that, that's what I'm saying, yeah, I think. Yeah, I think that basically our recommendation. Yeah, I think that basically I think it's not mandatory.
So change the word direction to recommendation, I think actually.
Yes ma'am. Um OK, so if our members are OK with that, I'll take a motion to suspend the rules to allow to suspend the rules. motion 2nd, the list in favor, say aye and opposed. I have it, um, we will now, uh, do a verbal amendment, which will add
Representative Lee Johnson. Is that OK? As the House member, because he knows about this. He does know about this. And on line 26, we will strike the word direction, striking the word direction and replacing it with recommendation. That is the verbal amendment. OK, so moved by Senator Peyton,
2nd, Senator Leding, all those in favor of this amendment say I and opposed. I have it and then it is adopted. Senate Bill 603 as amended. Is there a motion? Motion in a second, 2nd, all those in favor say I am opposed. I have a Senate Bill 603 as amended passes. Thank you. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you, members. Thank you very much.
Speaker 301
1:24:11
And I hope that you will break the news to Representative Johnson.
Speaker 281
1:24:22
Yes. Uh, I think we have Senator, um,
I walk into the room. Letty, Penzo,
Well, I know you do, but um. I
Speaker 304
1:24:42
think Senator Davis is going to wait on her bill.
Yes, but I mean, I've got you as 589. 591 474306, which one you want
to do. I'm sorry. I'll be right back. 262. And he has an amendment.
Speaker 306
1:25:33
we're in the 262 311. Do you have we did Oh, that's
right. Yeah, I thought we'd done that. I apologize. I thought y'all
did that while I was out of the committee.
311. OK, have you, has he signed it? OK, he signed it. All right, we'll pass that out. OK,
we're back to Senate Bill 311. Is that correct? That's
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:26:05
correct, yeah, the amendment came over about the time we shut her down, so. Yeah. OK, if
you'll just explain the amendment for me. This is red hatcher
Speaker 314
1:26:35
an attorney lobbyist. The amendment includes language that We worked on with UAMS Children's Hospital, Blue Cross Blue Shield, and the Attorney General's office. It makes everything prospective. It takes care of the um situation that uh Senator Payton contemplated earlier as far as you know, the original bill called for ripping out the machines now and replacing them and having the state pay for that. And so now
the amendment just makes clear that moving forward in a new machines that are bought. would be Not bought from a hostile nation or made or put together in a hostile nation that they would be bought from a company that, you know, puts those together either here in America or from one of our allies or anywhere not a hostile nation. And so, again, the gist of the amendment is to make it uh perspective. We are also working with the Department of Health on an amendment which we're going to introduce on the House side.
Uh, we just got that amendment. In the last 24 hours, so we've agreed to, uh, work that in on the house side that really just has to do with the reporting. There's some reporting that would be done to the Department of Health, but they didn't summarizing here, they didn't feel like they would be able to. Uh, handle those reports and so we're going to work with them on getting that amendment on the House side. But as far as we know, these amendments have taken care of everybody's concerns, and there's no opposition.
OK, um, any chance we can get that amendment over here on the Senate side. I actually think it would be
Speaker 314
1:28:17
faster. For Senator Pino, we'll certainly get it sent over to the magnificent Jessica Biel, certainly. If that would make the chair happy. Well, I I think it actually
might make things quicker for you. Instead of having to come back
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:28:32
and and we are if we decide we're gonna meet Friday morning? Yes. OK, so
you have time to do it. Thank you. Would that be OK? I think you're right I would just put it all in one amendment too, it'll save us coming back, so yeah. Thank
you very much. OK, yeah, we'll have a short, we'll probably have
a short meeting Friday morning. Um, and so we'll just put that 311, you'll just put that on 311 agenda for Friday morning. OK. Senator Penza, did you have 262?
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:29:11
Yeah, we've got somebody that was in town for 262 and Oh, how are you doing? Come on up. If you would
please and you have an amendment for 262 that we need to adopt,
right? OK. Um, you want to go ahead and just explain the amendment and the members of the
Speaker 327
1:29:35
committee. Thanks for letting me speak to you today. I'm Bill McCreary. I'm CEO of Pain Treatment Centers of America,
uh, this bill 262 would add a clause to the existing corporate practice of medicine statute clarifying that physicians with an active license in good standing may continue management. Ownership and control of the organizations they own after they retire, provided that their license is in good standing and they're license has not
Speaker 328
1:29:59
been suspended or revoked, and they are not subject to disciplinary action. OK. Is there a motion to
adopt the amendment? And second, all those in favor say aye and
opposed I have it and then it was adopted as Senate Bill 262 as amended. And you may proceed. I think you explained the
Speaker 327
1:30:27
bill, but it's fine. OK. Um, so basically the reasons to support this bill, it encourages physicians to continue to invest in their medical organization and grow in Arkansas communities, even as they approach or surpass their retirement age or goals. It helps to avoid forcing medical
organizations to sell or liquidate their practice and, and penalize physicians who have invested their lives in building those practices. Sale opportunities are not always available, timely or valued property. It helps avoid forcing a medical organizations sale or liquidation to penalize rural communities through a disruption of health care in their communities. The medical board would still continue to regulate the organization, but the retiring physician is no longer
required to have to hold an active medical license. And lastly, this change applies would only apply to physicians in good standing order, uh, in good standing when they retire. Thank you. Are there
Speaker 333
1:31:24
any questions from the members of the committee? I
ain't seen none. Is there anyone here to speak for or against this bill? You want to Opposed OK,
is there anybody here to speak for against the deal? You you're speaking against the bill? OK, if you'll. OK. Senator
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
1:31:56
Love, you're recognized. OK, so, so are you saying active physician cannot, I, I guess. I heard your explanation of the bill. Are you saying if you're not an active physician, you cannot, you can't if you
Speaker 327
1:32:10
as an active physician retire and give up your license that you cannot
continue to own and manage and operate your practice as the bill is currently written. You cannot. OK. And we would ask that a retired retiring physician in good standing, be able to continue to operate their practice. Is there a good reason why? Well, I mean, in the case of in our case, for example, our owner has already scaled back his medical practice, his time as a physician to help run the business and he foresees a time in the future where he wants to
retire as a physician, but not as a business owner and manager. So, all right, thank you. Yeah. Thank
you. Any other questions? OK. All right, thank you
and um you're here to speak against, OK, if you'll come to the end of the table and state your name for the record, please. Thank
Speaker 347
1:33:10
you, Madam Chair. Members of the committee. I'm Scott Smith with Arkansas Medical Society. I apologize for not signing in. I didn't think this was coming up tonight because I
thought there was going to be a breakfast discussion about this bill tomorrow morning between representative and physician who and so wasn't quite ready for this, but I can and I've not even seen the mandatory language, but I will say that that for the men was given, uh, like I said, not seeing it. concern is that we feel like a physician who's still Having influence in a medical practice in medical corporation
needs to maintain their license because there's an accountability issue that if they don't have their license still that we're concerned about um how do you discipline somebody who is over other physicians in a medical practice and possibly exerting influence and so our request would be just to simply keep up and pay for the, you know, the license. which is not that expensive nowadays. That's our request.
Speaker 171
1:34:22
OK, have you seen the amendment? Is the amendment right now, please. OK, so
Speaker 351
1:34:31
License was in good standing but not continuing to have a license. Correct. Is that correct?
Speaker 347
1:34:39
OK. So our request would be just to pay the extra. 2550 bucks a year for the license so that you're saying just to maintain
a license in good standing, that would be our
Speaker 313
1:34:52
request. I got you. OK. Senator and,
and understanding that if it's a license in good standing, it's the requirement is for continuing education and basically that's about it 20 hours
Speaker 327
1:35:05
a year, I believe that it is continuing education and fees and I guess liability malpractice insurance as well. That's not part of the licensing. I mean doesn't require
Speaker 354
1:35:15
$25 a year or something like that. I don't, I don't think can
maintaining a medical license requires you to continue to carry malpractice insurance. I don't know the answer to that for sure
Speaker 321
1:35:29
you're not practicing. Unless you're an OB-GYN and
then you have to have tail coverage. Correct. Uh, representative Peyton, you have a question. OK. There, thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair. I mean,
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:35:54
the way you're saying that it's just $25 a year. I mean, so how's that protecting anybody? How's
that? How's that causing their practice to be better for the customers.
Speaker 351
1:36:08
To maintain a license is to maintain um Having the medical board.
Speaker 347
1:36:13
Having authority over that license and the ability to discipline a person who maintains that license, but wouldn't they have that
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:36:21
authority and that opportunity to discipline anybody working in
that clinic as a doctor. Well, Anybody working in
Speaker 347
1:36:31
the clinic. Yes, sir. But if you have a CEO who's retired who doesn't have a medical license who's still sort of could possibly be calling the shots or influencing medical practice. Then our position is that we feel like that particular individual should Maintain licensure to be under the medical
Speaker 301
1:36:49
board. So at the big hospitals and and stuff like that, I mean, are all those
board members required to maintain a license and I think it's a different situation because you're talking about a medical corporation and it's my understanding, and, uh, hospitals aren't medical corporations, so if the doctor wants to retire, he could just incorporate. Uh, you, one exception to
Speaker 359
1:37:15
the corporate practice of medicine rule is uh becoming nonprofit organization. You'll have to hit your mic. I have
to apologize. Sorry, uh, one exception to the
Speaker 327
1:37:26
corporate practice of medicine rule is the organization could become a nonprofit organization. But that has a whole different set of rules and guidelines that we don't necessarily want to follow, so that's, that's how many of the hospitals do it. OK, thank you. I mean, I just, I thought the bill made perfect
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:37:44
sense that somebody should be able to retire and still run their business. It doesn't make any sense
to me that we just want them to pay their $25 a year. But anyway, thank you and you
Speaker 327
1:37:57
and we're totally in support of the medical board still having the opportunity to regulate the organization and all the providers within it, you know, we just, our, our owner would like to be able to retire and still be part of the management process of ownership of the of the practice.
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
1:38:27
Senator Hill, you're recognized her question. OK, I want to back up the word Senator Peyton was just a while ago. As far as being a manager, someone's
calling the shots. That happens every day in any business. You don't have in a license, saying you must maintain your license to be a physician. How does that keep him from running his business, from running the business, you know, whether he's calling 25% of the shots, 50% of the shots or or all the shots. He's still not seeing the patients. He's making the business decisions. That's totally different than seeing a patient.
Speaker 301
1:39:01
Yes, I understand. I think It's a medical corporation providing care to patients and so anytime you have that, we believe that the medical board should have authority
Speaker 347
1:39:12
for that kind of practice and that kind of business, and that's really what we're talking
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
1:39:18
about, so we're basically simply saying because it's always been that way. Well, as Senator Payton accused me of earlier today. I guess there
Speaker 347
1:39:33
It has always been that way. I don't know how many other states allow this kind of thing. I have no idea, but it's You know, the idea of just maintaining a license test does not seem to be an unreasonable request
Speaker 301
1:39:47
when you're still having interactions with and influence over physicians and medical practices that impact patients. OK, thank you, sir. Thank you. Thank you. Any other questions
from members of the committee? All right, thank you so much for your testimony. All right,
Senator Penzo, you're recognized to close for your bill.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:40:21
As amended Yeah, like, like we're. Senator Hill said, I mean, this is just managing and Peyton said it's just managing a business, medical board still has control over everything that happens within the, the clinic, so I
would just ask everybody for a good vote on this. I'll make a motion to pass
as amended. OK. Second, is there any discussion? All right, all those in favor say aye and
opposed. Uh I have to have 5 votes here. Um Um Call the roll
Speaker 373
1:41:16
Thank you Sooner Flippo. Senator Flippo. Sit in her heel, Senator Hill, yes. Sooner later sooner letting, yes. Senator Penzo, Senator Penzo, yes.
Senator Payton, Senator Payton. Yes. Sooner love. Say no love, no. Senator Wallace. Senator Wallace. All right. It
has 4 votes right now, um, Bill fails and so we will, you can run it again when you get
your 5th vote in the room Thank
you. OK, uh, moving on to Senator Leding. that Yeah, I, I don't
Speaker 381
1:42:28
have another. Yeah Um, OK. Also No, it's fine. I mean, we,
let me just go to Representative Brown, I mean, is there any
other Senate bills right now that need to be run that's other than a senator Prinza bill unless you want to run a different bill right now. OK, why don't we do
that? Do, do another one. OK. I Hold on just a second. I just
Unknown speaker
1:43:20
need to check to make sure we're, we can do that.
All right, so members, we can do this two ways. You can expunge the vote
can just run it again. OK. Although some favor say a unopposed, I have it. Motion to pass 262 as amended by Senator Pino, seconded by Senator Hill, although that some favor say aye. and opposed, I have it.
Clearly you have your 5 votes now. OK, thank you. You
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:45:08
got to sit for 121. is good. Yes, Senate Bill 121. Thank you, Madam Chair. Uh, this is an automatic uh occupational licensure uh for physicians' assistants, if you remember earlier in the uh
session we passed a compact for physician's assistants, um, this, uh, that allows uh PAs to be portable to come to the state and leave the state. This, uh, to amend the automatic occupational license would allow PAs that practice in other states that have a license to come to Arkansas and work provision here that it won't step on anything that has to do with uh. Uh,
the existing compacts, so, um, all it does is allow more, more healthcare providers to come work in Arkansas. And since we
have shortages in a lot of areas, this is just another, another way to bring PAs to Arkansas. And I'd like to make a verbal amendment to this to add uh representative Long. OK, 11 moment.
Um, Does, does this, uh, to mend
the automatic. So we've already, we've already passed the uh the automatic occupational licensure for out of state licensure. So your amendment
is just All I want to do is add, uh, sponsor with the
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:46:43
amendment. No, no, no, I know, but your bill is just
to add physician assistants. Is that right? Yeah,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:46:54
just adds to that uh automatic occupational licensure. OK, I have a
question on the bill before we do the verbal amendment to add the house
sponsor, that's OK. Um, so But we still maintain licensing over the PAs. Is that correct? Yeah, they're not
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:47:13
using their out of state license. They have to come to Arkansas and it's, it's already in, in code that uh for these occupational licenses
that they have to uh they may or may not have to take a test, but that's at the discretion of the licensing entity whether they want them to take it or not.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:47:42
one more time? Yeah, I said it's already in statute that that if the licensing entity wants to make them take a state exam. They can, but they don't have to. I got you, yeah, so, so they, they
will be a a licensed in Arkansas, and we
have a state presence in case they got, they have disciplinary actions or whatever, that all is handled here and we've done all of our due diligence on adding the language to make sure that anything changes to the. and or a scope. It has to go through ALC or whatever, right? I mean, it has nothing to do with
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:48:16
that has nothing to do with that, but yeah, no, this is just, let's say I'm
a PA in Missouri. I moved to Arkansas, um, I can apply to get an Arkansas license. They, they
need to be, yeah, somebody that moves here though, not somebody that's still in Missouri and wants to get a license
in Arkansas. OK. Are there questions Senator Payton has a question. Thank you.
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:48:38
Thank you, Madam Chair. I've, I've got some concerns and I don't know how to really That's the question
other than I mean Usually reciprocity means that Arkansas has to deal with another state, our people can go there and practice and they can come here and practice. And this is just saying that if
they're licensed in another state, the doors open, regardless of whether we get to go there. We we've already passed the
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:49:04
compact, OK, so there's a set of states out there that are in the compact, and I don't, but this would include states that are
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:49:13
not, wouldn't it? Yes, OK, so my next question is, Do all states have pretty much uniform training. Requirements
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:49:21
or could we be that that's what, OK, this is different. This, this allows the licensing
entity so that whoever licenses the PAs. is going to evaluate that and if it's close enough, they might not make them take an exam to show proficiency and if so, I mean they can, they can make them. Take a test to prove their proficiency in As a physician assistant. Well, I guess I'd need to see more code
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:49:53
than in the bill, but So it's not compelling the state
of Arkansas to grant a license solely based on the fact that they have a license in good standing in another state.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:50:10
It's given them the ability. To provide a license if they can pass an exam if they meet other criteria so not training but passing exam. Well, it's up to the licensing board if they want to give it to them. OK. All right, thanks. OK, are there any other questions from the members of the committee?
601. OK. So no other questions. Is there anyone here? Sorry,
we've got a really long list. Hold on. No, I don't have anybody. OK, um, I'll entertain a verbal amendment to add, uh, just let's vote to suspend the rules, motion to suspend the rules, so I moved. And second,
Second, all those in favor say I and opposed as habits, uh, rules are suspended, uh, motion to amend Senate Bill 121 to add Representative Long as the House sponsor, so moved by Senator Love, seconded by Senator Penzo. All those in favor say aye and opposed as habit and and then it is adopted. Um, motion, do pass Senate Bill 121 as amended by Senator Penzo,
seconded by Senator Flippo. All those in favor say aye and opposed I have it. Congratulations, Senate Bill 121 as amended, uh, is passed. Thank you, Madam Chair. I've
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:51:45
got Senate Bill 122. OK, let me go to Senator Hester,
and I'll come back to you. OK. Senator Hester. Senator Hester, you're, you're up, you're a Senate Bill 601.
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:52:14
Thank you, Chair and Irvin. members of Senate Bill 601, it has
to do with international medical graduates. This allows a process where somebody that is a is a licensed doctor with a good standing in another country that's been practicing in the last 4 years, has the opportunity to come and practice in the state of Arkansas in what I'm going to say is a hospital environment for 2 years, um. Uh, with the opportunity to
You know, continue operate, you know, providing those services in
the state of Arkansas. Uh, we all understand that there's a significant need somebody already presented a bill similar
Speaker 270
1:52:57
to this. OK, OK. Oh, OK. OK. Sorry, um,
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:53:07
but, but that's what this does, you know, you can look through there and see all the, all the requirements to make sure that it is um that,
you know, that they're they're good operators and, and here's what it boils down to. They can only operate in a hospital type environment. Well, you know, look, in a healthcare provider means a healthcare professional, healthcare facility, an entity licensed or certified to provide healthcare services in the state, so they can't go practice on their own. They got to go practice. with the supervision around them for, for up to a two-year period.
OK, what happens after the two-year period? Well, after the two-year period, I believe their license is no longer provisional. So if they're, if they have been, if they've been doing a good job, there's been no complaints, the people supervise them, all's well, then I think they have the right to just get a license in the state of Arkansas. OK, so then
they would then uh apply for a license under the Arkansas State Medical Board, and that takes it's right, and they could, you know, go work
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:54:15
anywhere in the state. Right now this is saying they've got to
work in an underserved community. OK. Uh, look, I will tell you I had a constituent bring this to me that's passionate about this issue because they lost a child in rural Arkansas. I don't know the exact circumstances, but I think that uh um in the situation there were not enough doctors available to be attended to all that were needed, and they lost a child. Uh, they moved to Northwest Arkansas, so they would never be in the position again where they would lose a family member because
there weren't enough physicians available, and they became passionate about this. issue Yeah, if, if there becomes questions or this is a problem, uh, you know, I'll defer to next week and I'll have them come and talk more intelligently about this issue. Good. Uh, just,
I just want to make sure that there's language that we have currently in statute
for them to be able to just go straight to medical, state medical board, and then be licensed under them, so that we, I, because I, does that make
sense, OK. Is there somebody from the health department that could Give me that information here tonight. Anyone? OK. Mr. Gilmore, do you mind? I know the state medical board, but it falls under the Department of Health. If you don't mind, just coming to the table. I just need to make sure. Because I would
want language in there if we needed it, right, to do exactly that. The senator.
Speaker 355
1:55:53
I think they've been working on this bill today. I haven't,
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
1:55:56
I think you've got some things you're working through. Um, as far as the existing language, I think the thought was is that they would get the 2 years and then they would apply through the medical board for um an unlimited license, but that was conversations I had earlier with Representative Johnson, so I think they're moving in the right direction, but that's all I can say at the moment. OK, all right. Well, if, if you need to continue to
do work on it, that's fine, but working through it. OK, cool. Senator, and I would make a commitment if this
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:56:24
committee allow this bill out of committee, I would not run it until you told me, I would not run on the floor to you. said, I got my questions answered. And if you don't like y'all, y'all hear me say that I, I will not move forward unless you're comfortable on the floor, but just for logistical purposes. If the if the committee was OK with
that, yeah, I just, I am fine with the bill. I like the intent behind it and everything. I just want
to make sure that we have that pathway very clearly defined in statute that they would move from this licensure into
Arkansas State Medical Board licensure. Does that make sense? And so, if y'all can find that. information out for me at the Department of Health and then if we need to add language in here, I think that would be appropriate if you're OK with that. But I mean, I'm fine with moving on the bill as it is and
then if we need to do anything on the floor, that's fine too. That's where I'm at. I, I just think that's the right thing to do. Senator Payton, thank you, Madam Chair. I'm just curious, do they
Senator John Payton
Unverified
1:57:26
license naturopathic doctors in foreign countries. Hey, I was for
Speaker 423
1:57:31
them on our floor. Thank you. Any other questions from members of the committee? OK. Thank you.
Seeing none, uh, anyone here to speak for or against this bill. 601. I don't think so.
Speaker 65
1:57:44
OK, all right, you're clothes for your bill. I think you
Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
1:57:49
know we We all have a lot of these standing problems. This is a
solution to a part of a solution to a big problem that we have, which is the need for more physicians and with that, I'd appreciate
a good vote. OK, thank you. Pleasure of the committee. What's the pleasure of
the committee motion to pass. Is there a second? Is there a second? Oh. All those in favor say I am opposed. I just have it. Thank you. And thank you for working with me if you don't mind on that language. Thanks.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:58:28
122. Senate Bill 122 is the Congolese naturopathic position bill. OK. No, it's
uh it's too late for me to get
even get a joke at this point. I apologize. So, uh, the Senate
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:59:01
Bill 122 is another automatic occupational licensure bill, which is just for, for medical doctors. Uh, so it's, it's the same thing I just explained for the physician's assistants, just, just for doctors. OK. So this is just automatic. From
somebody who's moving from out of state. kept them. Is that correct? Yeah, I mean, like I said for the last one,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
1:59:31
it's someone that holds an out of state license in good standing, moves to Arkansas, uh, to reside here, they can apply for a medical license and and medical board can decide if they want them to take, take an exam or if they just want to, if it's a state that has similar uh standards they can just give them a license. But it's up to the medical board. How they want to handle it.
Anybody from the medical society have a position
on this? OK, let me just ask questions about, OK, I'm sorry, I
could not get it in my packet. Um, but they with, with the Arkansas State Medical Board be able to deny the license under this act if they found issues with that
person in a different state. My understanding is yes. I mean, it's, it's up to the
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:00:29
board whether or not it just. allows for it to happen.
Yeah, I mean, there's nothing mandates a license. It just, I mean, they can, they can still, you know, if you don't pass the test or whatever hurdles
they set in the way, uh, they
could deny the license, OK, um. That's, that's just my only concern on with an automatic. Occupational licensure for out of state licensure Act. For, um, It's just the disciplinary issues and making sure that
Arkansas can say no if they find
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:01:12
some pretty egregious issues revoke an individual's license, they'd still retain that ability. I mean, there's, there's, there's a, there's several professions under the occupational license, uh, section of statute that allows these automatic licenses from other state, um. You know, if, if somebody wants to move here and get a license. We want them to move here and work. Well, I
agree with them, but I mean, the state of Arkansas has
very specific issues as it relates to licensing, that may be very, very different
from California and New York or whatever, and I just don't like to succeed our authority to be able to maintain a license
and like oversight over an individual, particularly when they're treating patients 100% agree with you,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:01:57
and this is not a compact that uh um we've already passed the compact, like I said, that allows people to come from other states. This still gives the The board, the authority to license. They don't, it doesn't,
you don't have to give every doctor a license that comes up. They still have the authority to To screen the candidates and make sure And here to Arkansas law. I mean, it's an Arkansas license, so they can still regulate the license. There's nothing that would prevent them from that. OK, Department of Health, I just need to make sure
I, do you, are you here? I think that makes. OK. I, I just want clarity on that for sure.
little. I'm sorry, Senate Bill 122, if you'll come to the end of the table, Mr. Gilmore,
I, I, I just, I guess the word automatic is throwing me off. Senate Bill 122 is what I'm talking about and it's the word automatic is throwing me off because I don't, I don't want to, I want, I guess that that's the word that's throwing me off.
So I need to understand, does this bill create an automatic approval of a license without regard to any kind of disciplinary actions, criminal background check, etc. etc. that the State Medical Board would uh be able to say yes or no to that license. And it's the word automatic. That that that I'm trying to understand. So they will have to go through
a background check. State your name for
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
2:03:50
the record. I apologize. Matt Gil. They'll have to go through a background check, um, they'll have to be Generally, and I think it's in the, the, you go back to Title 17, I think that's where this language is. It's got all the framers in there that fall under automatic licensure. But they will have to be in good standing. I mean, they'll have to be licensed somewhere else.
OK, OK, so, so that, the automatic doesn't necessarily
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
2:04:17
apply. It's in the title the word automatic is, is a faster process. I mean, it's, it's basically if they're licensed somewhere else, they come here, apply, I get a background check. They're in good standing, then they get a license. It's it's just a, I think it's a faster process. OK. It's like the military licensure that y'all have passed back in the day. OK, thank you. That is so very, OK.
That's what I was thinking. I just wanted to make sure. Thank you so much. OK, any other questions from members of the committee? All right. See, none. Do I hear a
motion to suspend the rules to add a House
member as a sponsor. Motion to suspend the rules. Second, all those in favor say aye and opposed as habit motion to amend the Senate Bill 122 to add representative. It's like bingo tonight, uh, as House member. um, so moved 2nd, all those in favor say a, uh, OK, and then it is adopted,
uh, now Senate Bill 122 as amended.
Motion to pass as amended 2, although some favorites say aye and opposed, I have it. OK.
Senate Bill 122 passes as amended. OK, Senator Scott is
not here, Senator. Senator Scott is here. I'm so sorry.
Senate bill. You have a Senate bill 225. Your bill is Senate Bill 2225. Yes it's uh It's to require the Arkansas Medicaid program to provide category for beneficiaries with sickle cell disease. OK, so I can place that bill on deferred permanently.
Senate Bill 225 needs to be placed on deferred permanently.
It's OK, Senator Pino. OK, Senator letting, you're not going to run 587. 587. 0, OK, sorry. But, but
Speaker 201
2:06:35
it's in Pins out. Senator Davis did come back because there
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:06:49
was uh Senate Bill 474.
Senator Pino, you're recognized, OK. Senate Bill 474, uh is uh. It, it's a local control bill that allows the water system operate or board to vote whether or not they want to have fluoride in their water system. OK, sorry about that. What bill
are we on again? Senate Bill 47474. OK.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:07:32
And like I said, pretty much as it. As I just said, the board of a public water system may elect to prohibit
fluoridation of the water it supplies. That's pretty much all the bill does. It allows us to The board of the water system to vote for or against the other bill Iran was to eliminate the mandate. This does not, but it gives local control to the actual water district board to decide whether or not they want to fluoridate the water. Do you know how that board is made up.
Um, every board in this state could be made up differently. There's usually Members to the board and uh are they appointed, elected? every, I'm not really sure. It's hard hard to say. They're probably Uh I don't know. Every, every water district could be set up
differently. OK. Alright, uh, any questions other than OK. Anyone here to speak.
I'm sorry, you had a question? 74. Any additional questions? Anyone here to speak for or against the spill. I don't
see any Right, you are then closed for your bill or make a motion to pass.
All right, there's discussion. Senator Wallace, you're recognized for discussion. Wait, You need to, your microphone,
please. Members, I, I will have to oppose this bill. Uh, once
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
2:09:24
again, it's based on my, uh, Knowledge of mountain previous life or my life and what I've seen our folks go through with a
lack of fluoride, um, I've worked closely with a lot of these water districts. Um Most of them are not elected by the, the numbers you would see elected in a municipal election or a county election. Uh, it might be just a handful of people that elect the board, so, uh, it's possible in some cases you could have 5 to 10 people deciding, uh, the fluoride issue for
A group of 3 or 400 of their, uh, customers, so I
will be voting against this bill. Thank you, uh, discussion, Senator Penza, you're recognized for discussion on
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:10:24
the motion. Thank you, Madam Chair. Um, The the The board members represent the The people in
their water district. I mean, that's, that's
what they're there for. There's already uh Boards in the state, water districts in the state that don't fluoridate their water, um, and they've made that decision based on feedback from their constituents, and I believe this is probably one
of the simplest ways to provide local control. To, to the, our constituents, so uh. OK.
Other discussion from members of the committee.
I'm going to participate in discussion as well. Um, I'm opposed to the bill, um, based on what Senator Wallace also has stated, um, I have a very personal story about this when I moved to Stone County, there was no fluoride in the water. I, as a mother of young children and
for that were 4 young kids. I um We tried to get the boards of
these water systems to uh listen to the majority of the, um, population and the healthcare professionals that all came and asked for better drinking water for the citizens, and the reason why is because we got to see these kids up front, up close and personally, um, and when you see a child who has a mouth full of rotted and uh teeth, uh, that are decayed. Um, because the cavities and they have silver caps on every
single one of their teeth. It's, it's horrible. It's horrible. And that was the that was the condition that we found when we had a very poor water in Stone County. Um, we tried to get fluoride added to the water at the time, um, they wouldn't do it and
they wouldn't listen to anyone. And so I have a problem because you're bored, I don't know who Alexis's the board. I don't, I don't know if they have the ability or mandate to actually have meetings that are
public. I don't, because I have no idea when they meet. I don't know where they meet. I, I don't know if there's any kind of a process for input from citizens and, um, And so I, you know, I have a real problem with them making a decision for an entire community. um, and then, you know, as I've stated, since we've had the fluoride added into the water in Stone County. We have not seen this with
children. It has absolutely improved in the water in big flat, I mean in '56, I was well water with adequate
and appropriate natural levels of fluoride. the water in Mountain View, uh, did not have in the system. And so, uh, you know, those kids, there was a, there was a visible difference. And so I just There are children that are, um, Affected by this, they don't
have a choice about whether or not, uh, they have fluoride or not, and so, um, I am opposed to this bill, um, and I'm opposed to removing fluoride from the water system. I think it's a economic development issue, um, as well, so that communities have good drinking water is very important for economic development and growth. Um, are there any other members that, uh, have discussion for this bill. you've had discussion already, Senator Pena, which I've
recognized. Is there any other Senator Payton.
Do you mind, Senator Wallace, if you turn your mic off? Thank you. Sorry. Senator Payton, your you. These board members are
Senator John Payton
Unverified
2:14:30
responsible for delivering clean, safe, healthy
water and maintenance and upkeep on the systems and, and I just, I know some of them personally in my neighborhood, in my area, and I think they take that responsibility seriously. I don't think we should.
Belittle their role and their responsibility. For what they do. I mean, they make decisions for the entire water system all the time, that's what their job is as board members. And I think we had a bill that would have allowed the, the customers of the water system to make that decision, but it was defeated, so I think it's fine to let the board members make the decision. I'm voting for it. Thank you. Thank you. Any other members for discussion, Senator Hill, you're back, I'm gonna make a
comment. I'm gonna go right along with Senator Peyton. I know a bunch of these
Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
2:15:21
gentlemen, men and women that own these water water companies, and I think we just kind of belittled them just then. I, I just feel like that they're responsible. They put them on there, and these are some good people. And they're personal friends of mine. My neighbors on the board. Of a water company. They're great people. I think they're they're put in that position. They're either elected or appointed to it, to do a job and be responsible for what they do and take care of the people in their area, and I think they do a heck of a job at it. Any other discussion for members
of the committee. All right, see none. We have a motion to pass. There's no amendment. Second, all those in favor say aye and opposed. And I'm gonna say
that there's not 5 votes, uh, knows how it. If you want to recall it, we'll roll call it.
Speaker 373
2:16:24
Sayer Flippo. Yes. Sooner Flippo, yes. Center here Sooner Hill, yes. Senor letting So you know letting know. So Penzo, Senator Penzo, yes. Inner pay. Sooner pain, yes. So no love.
So a love, no. So no Wallace. So the Wallace, no. Only
4 votes, needs 5. Bill fails. Thank you. right Um, well, that depends on Senator
Penzo. Do you have I mean, I can do one more and call tonight, OK, what,
what bill do you have? I mean we're, so I
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:17:21
mean I've got one more in my hand. I can do the rest of them.
Uh, this is, this is not fluoride controversial, but can we just move on to like which
bill you want to do Senate Bill 10. OK. Right OK.
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:18:03
OK, Senate Bill 110. All right, Senate Bill 110, uh, would allow
CNAs. Uh, that work in home settings to uh expand their scope. Um And it's uh does not apply to CNAs that work in inpatient settings or skilled nursing facilities. Um, and I'm gonna tell you why
I'm bringing this bill before this committee. Comes to a personal experience and I won't go through all the details because y'all have heard them before. Everybody knows that my sister's on a ventilator feeding tube, quadriplegic. When, when they sent her home from the hospital. We did like a 15 minute tutorial on how to manage her ventilator. How to do suction. How to do things like that. I've
got a health care background, so it's a little different for me, uh, did wound care, I did all kinds of stuff in my previous job. Um Anatomy and physiology for 3 years. I've got a little different perspective on the human body than my 80 plus year old parents. Who are educated. My elderly aunts and uncles who are educated. So the family is taught how to use the vent. We each go around the room sectioner. were sent home.
Just us, the family. And that's our training, and that's OK, right? That's the, that's the bar that's set. By our health care facility for family members today. I can train my sister's dog walker. The suctioner To feed her through her PEG 2. And that's It's a trainable task. It's not
rocket science. Like I said, my 80 year old parents were doing this. Um And that's, that's how this works. You, you leave the facility. Are you And we were so nervous for the first couple of weeks.
It was scary. I mean, here, here's my sister on the bench. She's paralyzed and we're the ones taking care of her. But we took on that risk. That was our decision to get her out of the facility because we wanted her home. So
We have non-skilled caregivers, CNAs that come in the house are not allowed to touch the PEG tube. They're not allowed to touch the vent. They're not allowed to do this. They're not allowed to do that. There's all these things because of this license. That prevents them from Doing the things that my 80 year old parents were doing. My dog walker or my sister's dog walker. College girl that's a dog walker can do all these things.
So what this bill does is it says that uh If the person is properly trained. And If my sister's comfortable with it or I'm comfortable with it, is there POA? Why shouldn't they be allowed to do those tasks. Because we're discharged from the hospital. With just a few minutes of training on it. You know, of course, we've got people come out and check on the, the vent and over time
we've, you know, learned, but that's, that's what training is about. You don't have to have all these courses on how to run the vent. These, these home units are about this big, and they, they run themselves. And I just think that Our health care system's broken. There's a lot of things that need to be fixed. And I think this would be, you know, I rent a bill here the other day and it didn't get
passed because my goal is to leave people in their home as long as possible. Now my sister has nurses that stay with her overnight. And then we have like the non-skilled or the CNAs that come in during the day, but they're not working, uh, necessarily under their CNA license or non-skilled healthcare providers that help out around the house. Um, I just think that If we're allowed to take her home.
And we feel comfortable, if I feel comfortable with my dog walker. Doing a task Then I should be able to feel OK with somebody with a CNA license doing the task. And that's what this bill. Ask for
I'd be happy to answer any questions. And So you're directing Medicaid, is that correct to recognize this, or I'm sorry, shout authorize.
Shall shall authorize CNAs or CNAs to provide in-home services
to beneficial to perform additional care and duties. So this would have it's instructing them to request
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:23:37
a federal waiver that would allow this. Right, but that's also, do you
have, did you, did you get fiscal impact information from Medicaid on it. I don't,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:23:50
I don't see how there could be a fiscal impact on, uh, something that's scope related.
OK, if anything, in the long run this, this would actually probably save, save money if uh if
uh. You could utilize CNAs instead of RN's. I mean, 11 of the situations we have with my sister, uh, just, just this last weekend, um, uh, we, we, we lost a nurse, won't go into the details on that, but I ended up spending Friday and Saturday night with my sister. And that's a pretty regular occurrence, and so that's me.
Uh, sitting in front of a monitor and a recliner while she's in the other room sleeping and I, I keep an eye on that monitor all night, stay awake all night. I work on stuff, but I'm, I'm watching that monitor because that's normally what the nurse does while she sleeps every hour I get up and go check on her. Checker, you know, make sure everything's good, uh. And then I go back to the recliner and so that's, that's a 12 hour shift that
the nurses are usually there doing that. So yeah, I, I think what I'm asking
though is, um, for in-home care, you're talking
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:25:13
about personal care, right? I'm talking about personal care right now, but what I'm saying is, I'm just saying there's a shortage of RNs out there right now. OK? And I'm not, I'm not saying that these folks are going to be spending the night with her. I'm just saying that if there's, there's, there's, there's shifts during the day that can't be covered because there's not enough nurses out there. I mean that was part of me expanding
the scope radius, uh, back in the day for, for these types of things because there there were not RNs. I was using a company in Northwest Arkansas, and there were not nurses in Northwest Arkansas that worked for that company. I went to Mountain Home. After I after we expanded as a legislature that that coverage area and the company in Mountain Home. Had people working for it that lived in Northwest Arkansas, and you can't use two providers. I'm just saying there's a health
care shortage out there. That's, that's why I'm running a lot of these bills, the automatic licensure for PAs, automatic licenser for doctors. I'm trying to expand scope of all these professions is because we don't have coverage for in-home care in this state. And, and I know this doesn't directly affect that, but it does because there are RN shifts during the day that we can't cover and so that that could be covered. by CNA if this bill passed. OK, I, I'm just trying to
understand if DHS in the room, can they come to the table and give me some information here that I just need
Speaker 453
2:27:00
to ask a question about, please. Sorry. Good evening, Elizabeth
Pitman, Division of Medical Services. OK, thank you. So my question is specifically do we currently Pay for
Um, in-home services force with CNAs. My understanding is, is this personal care and do we currently pay for skilled because CNA is skilled labor, right? So we do pay I know for unskilled labor, correct, for personal care, do we
currently also pay for CNAs. Not that I'm aware of for CNAs in the home. We have private
Speaker 454
2:27:35
duty nursing in the home, which covers registered nurses and I believe LPNs and We also have personal care, which is direct care worker,
which would be the unskilled professional. They do go through some training, but it is not a, a certified or licensed profession. OK, so this, but
this bill It's just saying CNAs versus RNs or are we adding CNAs to the personal care world, which we do not have right now. I would let you speak to what you're trying to do here.
Some, I'm asking about We have
personal care, right? And they utilize unskilled labor currently, correct? Yeah, I mean in-home services, most of them
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:28:32
are probably untrained, um, initially I was going to do that population, but I didn't figure that would be very popular, um, and this isn't tied to any non-skilled provider or or or skilled provider out there. This is, this is just something.
This is Clint's bill, OK? Um, I was, I was looking at doing this with the non-skilled. I didn't think that would be very palatable and um I I know that this is probably not very palatable either, but if there was a CNA that worked for a non-skilled company, they would be allowed to do this. If there was a, if they were, there was a CNA that worked for a skilled company. They could substitute For an hour. OK. I'm, I'm, I'm, I don't, I don't know and that that kind of would fall under.
Uh, I mean, whatever the waiver comes back as, I mean, and how it was written. I'm, I'm requesting a waiver being requested so it might be that the skilled company that can't provide my family with an RN. could use a CNA. OK. I mean, I, I mean that, that, so what
Senator Pino is stating that as another question I had like what would
this waiver look like based on the
the bill? Is there fiscal impact to that? Is it different? I'm, I'm trying to understand exactly what he was talking about and how that process would work with this bill. I would agree we
Speaker 453
2:30:04
have not determined there to be a fiscal impact. We do look at this as a scope issue, and it would fit into what
Speaker 454
2:30:10
we have as services today, so we're not Seeing a fiscal impact to that, um, I don't know if it would be a waiver or a state plan amendment, we would have to work through, um, all of that and how this individual who doesn't necessarily have the ability to
practice on their own as a medical professional would be supervised, um, so typically RNs have their physician plans, their plans signed off on by a physician before they go home and go in and perform their duties and there is a standard of nursing care that they provide that. That notes and sort of the instructions for the next shift to another person that can have that same scope of practice and so, um, you know, we would have to work through any issues like that to be able to do a waiver.
OK. That, that helps me answer those questions. Are there other Questions from members of the committee. Senator
Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
2:31:11
Love in, in the same vein. So is, is there any other states that actually Have um CNAs or do you know
Speaker 459
2:31:17
I wouldn't know. I wouldn't know that I don't know either. It can take a look and see what we could
Speaker 218
2:31:23
find, but I don't know right now. OK, all right, thank you.
All right. Any other questions from members of the committee? OK, see you then. Um, we have, uh, Some folks that were here earlier, I'm just going to call their names. They signed up to speak against, which is Rachel Bunch, executive director, AHCA. Margaret Lowe,
Arkansas Nurses Association is Margaret Lowe still in the room? Margaret Lowe. She was against Which who is Margaret Lowe with? Sorry.
Margaret love, sorry. Arkansas Nurses Association was against and Neil Reeves, Arkansas Nurses Association is Neil Reeves in the room? No, they were against the bills. They were here earlier. OK. Is that it? Well,
they're not here, but for the record, they signed up to speak against. All
right. Any, any other questions from members of the
committee. Seeing none, you're recognized to close for
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:32:33
your bill. Yeah, I'm close for my bill and um I, I just asked for a good vote. Motion do
passed by Senator Penzo. Second by Senator Payton, all those in favor say aye
and opposed. I'm going to say the noes have it, uh, Bill fails. Cinel one, OK, you what, let me go ahead and get a roll call on that,
Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
2:33:00
and then we'll, we'll, uh, I know where I stand with everybody and then we can have a
Speaker 373
2:33:04
talk, see if we can fix it. All right, please call the roll. Singer Flippoin Flippo, no. Sooner here. Sooner heal sooner heal, no. Send a lady sitting in the letting, yes. Senator Penzo center Penzo, yes. Sooner pain. Sooner pain, yes.
Say of love, sin of love, no. Senna Wallace. So
Wallis, no. OK, 3 yeses.
Bill fails. Thank you. OK, members. With that, then we're adjourned. Mhm I
Agenda
CALL TO ORDER
SB576 B. Davis TO AMEND THE COVERAGE OF CONTINUOUS GLUCOSE MONITORS WITHIN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
SB497 D. Wallace TO REQUIRE THE CREATION OF A POSTER REGARDING VETERANS' BENEFITS AND SERVICES; AND TO REQUIRE CERTAIN EMPLOYERS TO DISPLAY THE POSTER.
SB532 Hester TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELATING TO THE ASSESSMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
SB557 M. Johnson TO AMENDS LAW CONCERNING WATER PERMITS AND DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER; TO AUTHORIZE DENIALS OF APPLICANTS THAT HAVE A HISTORY OF NONCOMPLIANCE; AND TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER.
SB312 Stone TO REMOVE THE MORATORIUM ON THE CONSTRUCTION OR ADDITION OF ANY ADDITIONAL BEDS WITHIN PSYCHIATRIC RESIDENTIAL TREATMENT FACILITIES.
SB556 M. Johnson TO PROTECT PUBLIC DRINKING WATER SOURCES; AND TO PROHIBIT SURFACE DISCHARGE OF WASTEWATER INTO A WATERSHED.
SB585 G. Leding TO REQUIRE CERTAIN RECORDS BE PROVIDED TO AN EMPLOYEE WHO IS A MINOR.
SB589 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE 340B PROGRAM TRANSPARENCY ACT; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING TRANSPARENCY AND ACCOUNTABILITY FOR CERTAIN 340B-COVERED ENTITIES.
SB591 C. Penzo TO PROHIBIT RACE-SELECTION ABORTION IN THIS STATE; AND TO CREATE THE RACE DISCRIMINATION BY ABORTION PROHIBITION ACT.
SB474 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC WATER SYSTEMS; AND TO ALLOW THE BOARD OF A PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM TO PROHIBIT FLUORIDATION OF THE WATER IN THE PUBLIC WATER SYSTEM.
SB306 C. Penzo TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO APPLY FOR A HOME- AND COMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES WAIVER FOR THE AGING AND ELDERLY POPULATION IN THIS STATE.
SB311 C. Penzo TO CREATE THE END ORGAN AND GENOMIC HARVESTING ACT; TO PROHIBIT COVERAGE OF CERTAIN HUMAN ORGAN TRANSPLANT OR POST-TRANSPLANT CARE; AND TO PROHIBIT CERTAIN GENETIC SEQUENCERS AND GENETIC ANALYSIS TECHNOLOGIES.
SB2 C. Penzo TO REPEAL THE STATEWIDE FLUORIDATION PROGRAM; AND TO REMOVE THE MANDATE FOR WATER SYSTEMS TO MAINTAIN A FLUORIDE CONTENT.
SB269 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS REGARDING LOCATIONS FOR AND GEOGRAPHIC AREAS OF A HOSPICE AGENCY.
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.
SB255 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "DRUG" WITHIN THE FOOD, DRUG, AND COSMETIC ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB225 J. Scott TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO PROVIDE A CATEGORY FOR BENEFICIARIES WITH SICKLE CELL DISEASE.
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.
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.
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.
SB95 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS ATHLETIC TRAINERS ACT; AND TO CLARIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ATHLETE" WITHIN THE ARKANSAS ATHLETIC TRAINERS ACT.
SB110 C. Penzo TO AUTHORIZE CERTIFIED NURSE AIDES OR CERTIFIED NURSING ASSISTANTS WHO PROVIDE IN-HOME SERVICES TO BENEFICIARIES IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO PERFORM ADDITIONAL CARE AND DUTIES.
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.
SB603 C. Tucker TO REQUIRE AN AIR AMBULANCE TO CONTACT THE ARKANSAS TRAUMA SYSTEM FOR DIRECTION ON THE BEST DESTINATION TO TRANSPORT A PERSON.
SB606 B. Davis TO AMEND THE USED TIRE RECYCLING AND ACCOUNTABILITY ACT; TO CREATE THE TIRE MANAGEMENT AND RECYCLING ACT; TO REPEAL THE USED TIRE RECYCLING FUND; AND TO CREATE THE WASTE TIRE ABATEMENT FUND.
SB587 G. Leding TO CREATE THE PARENTS' PEACE OF MIND ACT; TO ESTABLISH AUTHORIZATION FOR AND USE OF A MONITORING DEVICE IN A LONG-TERM CARE FACILITY; TO PROVIDE FOR WAIVERS; AND TO PROVIDE FOR ENFORCEMENT AND PENALTIES.
HB1186 Vaught TO CREATE THE PAIN RELIEF PARITY ACT; AND TO REQUIRE PAIN RELIEF PARITY IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
HB1131 Pilkington TO AUTHORIZE AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE TO DELEGATE CERTAIN TASKS TO MEDICAL ASSISTANTS AND OTHER UNLICENSED STAFF.
HB1171 K. Moore TO MODIFY THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; AND TO AUTHORIZE AN ABBREVIATED INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENT FOR CERTAIN BENEFICIARIES ENROLLED IN A RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATION.
HB1403 Pilkington TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HEALTH AND OPPORTUNITY FOR ME ACT OF 2021 TO ALLOW NONHOSPITAL ENTITIES TO BE COMMUNITY BRIDGE ORGANIZATIONS.
HB1439 Ladyman TO REMOVE THE CERTIFICATION PROCESS OF THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES FROM LICENSURE AS A PRIVATE CARE AGENCY.
HB1440 Bentley TO AMEND THE MASSAGE THERAPY ACT; AND TO ESTABLISH REGISTRATION FOR MASSAGE THERAPY ESTABLISHMENTS.
HB1454 Bentley TO AMEND THE LAWS CONCERNING CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS CHECKS FOR EMPLOYEES OF SERVICE PROVIDERS; TO ALLOW THIRD-PARTY EMPLOYEE EVALUATION SERVICES TO PERFORM CRIMINAL HISTORY RECORDS CHECKS; AND TO INCLUDE INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS.
HB1456 Rose TO AMEND THE STATE KIDNEY DISEASE COMMISSION TO BE AN ADVISORY COUNCIL TO THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH.
HB1251 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH THE ARKANSAS ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANT ACT; AND TO PROVIDE FOR LICENSURE OF ANESTHESIOLOGIST ASSISTANTS.
HB1458 L. Johnson TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "CREDENTIALING INFORMATION" WHEN THE ARKANSAS STATE MEDICAL BOARD IS PROVIDING INFORMATION TO CREDENTIALING ORGANIZATIONS.
HB1537 Ladyman TO REPEAL THE LOCATION ACT FOR COMMUNITY HOMES FOR INDIVIDUALS WITH INTELLECTUAL AND DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES.
HB1428 Steimel TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING PUBLIC LODGING; AND TO PROVIDE A BED HEIGHT REQUIREMENT FOR MOBILITY ACCESSIBLE ROOMS.
HB1523 Vaught CONCERNING MISSING PERSONS ALERTS; TO CODIFY THE ARKANSAS AMBER ALERT SYSTEM; TO CODIFY THE ARKANSAS SILVER ALERT SYSTEM; AND TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS PURPLE ALERT SYSTEM.
HB1442 Achor TO SET RESTRICTIONS ON PHARMACY CONTRACTING AND CONFLICTS OF INTEREST; AND TO ESTABLISH PHARMACEUTICAL PATIENT FREEDOM OF CHOICE.
HB1471 Wooldridge TO AMEND THE EXPIRATION DATE OF ALL LICENSES OF THE BOARD OF EXAMINERS IN SPEECH-LANGUAGE PATHOLOGY AND AUDIOLOGY.
HB1185 L. Johnson TO ADOPT THE DIETITIAN LICENSURE COMPACT IN ARKANSAS.
HB1559 McGrew TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES TO SEEK A WAIVER TO THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR COVERAGE FOR INPATIENT TREATMENT SERVICES FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS.
HB1429 M. Shepherd TO INCREASE ACCESSIBILITY WHILE ENSURING QUALITY FOR CERTAIN FACILITIES PERFORMING MAMMOGRAPHY SERVICES; AND TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING THE QUALITY STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION OF FACILITIES FOR MAMMOGRAPHY.
HB1285 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH AN EXEMPTION PROGRAM FOR AMBULANCE SERVICE'S OPERATORS FOR CERTAIN HEALTHCARE SERVICES.
HB1576 Lundstrum TO PROHIBIT A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL TO BE PLACED OVER A KARST TOPOGRAPHY.
HB1218 J. Mayberry TO CREATE LICENSURE FOR THERAPEUTIC RECREATION SPECIALISTS; AND TO CREATE THE THERAPEUTIC RECREATION PRACTICE ACT.
HB1682 Puryear TO CREATE THE GOOD NEIGHBOR ACT; AND TO CLARIFY FOOD DONATION LIABILITY AND IMMUNITY.
HB1252 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH THE CERTIFIED COMMUNITY-BASED DOULA CERTIFICATION ACT; AND TO CERTIFY BIRTH AND POSTPARTUM DOULAS IN THIS STATE TO IMPROVE MATERNAL AND INFANT OUTCOMES.
HB1585 L. Johnson TO PROVIDE AN EXCEPTION FROM LICENSURE AS A HOME HEALTHCARE SERVICE TO AN ENTITY THAT SOLELY PROVIDES THERAPY SERVICES THAT ARE NOT REIMBURSED BY MEDICARE PART A.
HB1712 Joey Carr TO ESTABLISH THE SOCIAL WORK LICENSURE COMPACT IN THIS STATE.
HB1582 McAlindon TO REQUIRE CERTAIN ACTIONS AND ENCOURAGE CERTAIN ACTIONS FOR AN INDIVIDUAL TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW.
HB1622 Gramlich TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO MODIFY THE DEFINITION OF "ADVERSE DECISION" UNDER THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; AND TO PROVIDE FOR ADMINISTRATIVE RECONSIDERATION UNDER THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT.
HB1619 Gramlich TO SET ADMINISTRATION FEES UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR IMMUNIZATIONS AND MONOCLONAL ANTIBODIES FOR RESPIRATORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS DISEASE; AND TO PROVIDE CIVIL IMMUNITY.
HB1734 Childress TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING DEATH CERTIFICATES; AND TO CLARIFY THE MEDICAL PROFESSIONALS WHO MAY SIGN A MEDICAL CERTIFICATE OF DEATH AND PRONOUNCE DEATH OF A PATIENT.
HB1758 Gramlich TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING HEARING INSTRUMENT DISPENSERS; AND TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "PRACTICE OF DISPENSING HEARING INSTRUMENTS".
HB1241 J. Mayberry TO ENSURE THAT THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM REIMBURSES FOR DENTAL AND ANESTHESIA COSTS FOR HIGH COMPLEXITY ORAL HEALTH CARE.
HB1679 M. Brown TO AMEND THE REVISED ARKANSAS ANATOMICAL GIFT ACT; TO ALLOW CERTAIN CLASSES OF PERSONS TO REVOKE OR AMEND AN ANATOMICAL GIFT UPON THE DEATH OF THE DONOR; AND TO REQUIRE CERTAIN REPORTING OF PROCUREMENT ORGANIZATIONS.
HB1782 Hudson TO PROHIBIT OVER-THE-COUNTER DIET PILLS FROM BEING SOLD, TRANSFERRED, OR OTHERWISE FURNISHED TO A PERSON WHO IS UNDER EIGHTEEN YEARS OF AGE.
HB1543 Underwood TO ESTABLISH THE WORKFORCE EXPERIENCE OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF 2025.
HB1767 L. Johnson TO ABOLISH THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COUNCIL; AND TO CREATE THE EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICES ADVISORY COMMITTEE.
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.
HB1817 L. Johnson TO ESTABLISH ELIJAH'S LAW IN ARKANSAS; AND TO REQUIRE THE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH AND THE DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION TO ESTABLISH A STATEWIDE ANAPHYLAXIS POLICY FOR CHILDCARE FACILITIES.
HB1840 L. Johnson TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT TO ENSURE THAT SEDATION DENTISTRY IS COVERED BY RISK-BASED PROVIDER ORGANIZATIONS.
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.
HB1004 Pilkington TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH.
HB1187 Vaught TO AUTHORIZE A LICENSURE BY ENDORSEMENT FOR MARRIAGE AND FAMILY THERAPISTS.
HB1677 Bentley TO AUTHORIZE ALCOHOL AND DRUG ABUSE TREATMENT PROGRAMS TO MAINTAIN EMERGENCY MEDICATION KITS.
HB1751 Underwood TO REQUIRE AN APPLICANT FOR TEMPORARY ASSISTANCE FOR NEEDY FAMILIES PROGRAM BENEFITS TO ENGAGE IN JOB SEARCH ACTIVITIES WHILE THE APPLICATION IS BEING PROCESSED.
HB1784 Wardlaw TO MODIFY THE INFORMAL DISPUTE RESOLUTION PROCESS FOR LONG-TERM CARE FACILITIES.
ADJOURNED
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — PUBLIC HEALTH WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE, Apr 2, 2025 | Agenda | 5 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Senator Missy Irvin Chair
Unverified
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd
Unverified
Senator John Payton
Unverified
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Speaker 94
Speaker 115
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Speaker 161
John Fravel
Unverified
Speaker 167
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Senator Breanne Davis
Unverified
Senator Dave Wallace
Unverified
Senator Greg Leding
Unverified
Speaker 205
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Leela Chisholm
Unverified
Speaker 223
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Speaker 66
Speaker 231
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Senator Clint Penzo
Unverified
Speaker 264
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Speaker 59
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Speaker 35
Senator Clarke Tucker
Unverified
Speaker 285
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Senator Fredrick J. Love
Unverified
Speaker 347
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Senator Ricky Hill
Unverified
Speaker 373
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Senator Bart Hester
Unverified
Speaker 355
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
Speaker 423
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