Education Committee - Joint
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Bills discussed (5)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
SB243
· 2 mentions in transcript, agenda
Matched: “Senate Bill 243. It's 23232, OK. You want me”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW REGARDING LOTTERY-FUNDED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS. | Hickey | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1446
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…NING POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. HB1446 Lundstrum TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS WORKFORCE CHALLENGE SCHOLAR…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS WORKFORCE CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | Lundstrum | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1480
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. HB1480 Andrews TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHI…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS ACADEMIC CHALLENGE SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAM; AND TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "APPROVED … | Andrews | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
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SB216
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…Rep. Jason Nazarenko REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle SB216 J. Dotson TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING POSTSECONDARY EDUCATI…”
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TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING POSTSECONDARY EDUCATION FINANCIAL ASSISTANCE PROGRAMS. | J. Dotson | Died in Senate Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB232
Act 429
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…MEND THE LAW REGARDING LOTTERY-FUNDED SCHOLARSHIP PROGRAMS. SB232 Hickey TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS SCHOLARS…”
|
TO AMEND VARIOUS PROVISIONS OF THE ARKANSAS SCHOLARSHIP LOTTERY ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. | Hickey | Notification that SB232 is now Act 429 |
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Speaker 4
0:13
Senate Bill 243. It's 23232, OK. You want me
Senator Jane English
Unverified
0:40
to begin? Yeah, just a second. She's just handing out
the amendment. They're handing out the amendment. Yes, ma'am.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
0:57
Thank you very much. OK, you could go ahead. Members, we have an amendment here first. I apologize for that, tried to have it fully engrossed and just to. Be straight up with you was looking at all this yesterday, uh, see where there might be a little issue with the bill. stayed on the phone with the lottery folks. We appreciate them working all.
Half the day yesterday to get this amendment correct this right here, we have an issue with some of the way our books have been, and this should straighten it up and I'll fully explain the bill if you'll adopt the amendment.
Senator Jane English
Unverified
1:31
Go ahead. On just the amendment. Motion to adopt. Motion to adopt them. Do I have a second? Second, all in favor. All poses. Thank you.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
1:45
All right, members. You're ready for me to present the bill? All right, members, uh, Uh, 1st, 1st of all, I'm gonna say we're, we're we're presenting this in the joint committee, uh, probably would not have to. There's not a negative effect and it doesn't involve a scholarship. Uh, there, there is a possibility that it would actually create A positive for the, uh, uh, scholarship trust fund. But let me kind of explain what's happened here. So, It's not going to be the easiest
thing to understand, but, but I'll attempt to explain it, uh. What we're doing is we're cleaning up an issue that On our books of the Arkansas Lottery, which has actually been there since the inception, and I want you to know that I've had a bunch of conversation with the lottery officials DFNA, and it also even went to legislative audit, uh, they, so they've been fully aware of this, uh, so that they know exactly what's uh transpired. The easiest way for me to explain this is that when the lottery was created in 2009,
which was done by an So I know all that may sound odd. But again, we're not, so we're gonna clean that up. So right now as of June 30th of 2024, what we were showing was a, uh,
A negative position of right under $20 million. Now that goes up and that goes down somewhat based upon what our prizes are. And also what uh is referred to as OPEB, which is your, uh, Like your insurance for your retirement, uh, things to that nature. So, As of January, I think it was about 1617 million. So the transaction or what this bill does is this gonna clean up those books so that we won't have this problem anymore.
Now we're not, although we've been putting additional money into the scholarship reserve fund. We're not gonna use that. To take care of this Of this deficiency that shows on our balance sheet. We have, we have 20 million that's been parked in in what is called a short, a shortfall reserve uh trust account for the lottery. Whenever the lottery was first, was first put on. Uh They were the way that that was
done at that time as revenues were coming in, that's what they were using to fund the scholarships. So we, there was a possibility that if there was not enough money there that we would have to have, have to borrow from this shortfall reserve account. We, you all, what we've done over the past few years is we've totally reworked the lottery. Now the way all of that is designed is, is we actually pay the lottery a year behind. So in other words, we get our revenues in.
Know how much is there so that we know that we have enough money to actually pay for that scholarships with the preceding year's money. So there's really no need to have this shortfall reserve trust fund any longer. So what we're gonna do is we're gonna take that off of the balance sheet and use that. Use that to clear up this. This position on the balance sheet. That's about as simple a way as I know how to, uh, uh, to put it to you all, um,
Senator Jane English
Unverified
5:27
Again, I'll attempt to answer any questions. Are there questions from the committee? Either you've explained it very well,
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
5:45
or nobody knows what we're talking about. I guess my thing is I will, I will let y'all know that DFNA has been involved in our legislative audit again, they all know
about this and it's. And, and this will keep us from
Senator Jane English
Unverified
6:01
ever being in a negative net position again.
Speaker 24
6:04
Senator, I mean, uh, Representative McKenzie. Thank you, Madam Chair. Just a quick question, what is the current balance of the shortfall reserve fund.
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
6:16
20 million. 20 million on the money right there. And it just depends and we won't know like to the end of the fiscal year or actually even later. Because If Let's just say it takes 19 million to clean this up. There is a possibility that we'll
transfer a million into the scholarship fund actually. But it's, but it's all based upon what what our actuarial does, so we're not gonna unders know
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
6:45
what that is until we get those numbers. Senator Murdoch. Thank you, Madam Chair. Senator Hickey, will this, how and when or what effect this have on our current scholarship situation in our
Speaker 29
6:57
plans and allocation for scholarships. Absolutely none. It, uh, it's just replenishing
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
7:03
that fun that's been Screw the wit, so for lack of a better word, over the years
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
7:10
and not been properly maintained actually what what we've done is we've actually transferred more money. Into
the scholarship fund than we should, should have the scholarship fund, if I remember right, has 300 and something million right now. Don't, don't quote me on the numbers, but it's 300 and something million there right now anyway. We've actually transferred additional money in there that we probably
shouldn't, but we were complying with the way that the statute was done, it really was not generally accepted accounting principles and this is going to actually move this in so those things will be done according to those, uh, to gap. And we can't just reverse it out, we have to go through this procedure. That this is the cleanest way to do it. You asked me if there would be an effect on the scholarship fund. It, it actually is gonna be a positive benefit. I just can't tell you how much because I don't know what the, what the number is gonna be as of June 30th. To the end of the fiscal
Senator Jane English
Unverified
8:07
Thank you. Yes, sir. Thank you. Any other questions here? Seeing none, so we have to vote on this House and the Senate. So I would like to have a motion from the Senate. by her motion So move. Do I have a second? Yeah OK, all in favor. All post Thank you. We've passed that in the. do better.
Do I hear a second 2nd? All in favor? Hall post Thank you very much. Thank you. I appreciate you all. Thank you. Now let me see, we have. One more here by um Representative Andrews. He's not here. Oh, he's not running it. OK. All right, well then, uh, ladies and gentlemen, I think we are, have completed our work. The meeting is adjourned.
Agenda
No agenda available.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — EDUCATION COMMITTEE - SENATE AND HOUSE MEETING JOINTLY WITH ADVANCED COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION, Mar 17, 2025 | Agenda | 1 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Speaker 4
Senator Jane English
Unverified
Senator Jimmy Hickey, Jr
Unverified
Speaker 24
Senator Reginald Murdock
Unverified
Speaker 29