Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee- House
Video
Transcript
1 document
Bills discussed (49)
| Bill | Title | Sponsor | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
|
HB1185
Act 799
· 3 mentions in agenda, transcript, chapter
Matched: “…llen Rep. Wayne Long REGULAR AGENDA Number Sponsor Subtitle 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 |
|
HB1559
Act 632
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
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
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “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. |
|
HB1610
Act 387
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript
Matched: “HB1610 Lundstrum TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HUMAN LIFE PROTECTION ACT A…”
|
TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HUMAN LIFE PROTECTION ACT AND THE ARKANSAS UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT. | Lundstrum | Notification that HB1610 is now Act 387 |
|
SB168
· 3 mentions in agenda, chapter, transcript
Matched: “…STANDARDS FOR ACCREDITATION OF FACILITIES FOR MAMMOGRAPHY. SB168 Rice TO ESTABLISH A STATE EXAMINATION FOR LICENSURE OF MASS…”
|
TO ESTABLISH A STATE EXAMINATION FOR LICENSURE OF MASSAGE THERAPISTS. | Rice | Died on House Calendar at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB265
Act 294
· 3 mentions in chapter, transcript, agenda
Matched: “SB265 Irvin TO REDUCE AND MODIFY THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE LICENSING…”
|
TO REDUCE AND MODIFY THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE LICENSING COMMITTEE RELATING TO WASTEWATER AND THE … | Irvin | Notification that SB265 is now Act 294 |
|
HB1244
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1244 K. Brown TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE…”
|
TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE OF FULL INDEPENDENT PRACTICE AUTHORITY BY A … | K. Brown | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1429
Act 854
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “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 |
|
HB1468
Act 558
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…CENSURE OF MASSAGE THERAPISTS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. HB1468 Cozart TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CLAIMS AGAINST CONT…”
|
TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CLAIMS AGAINST HOME IMPROVEMENT CONTRACTORS, RESIDENTIAL BUILDING CONTRACTORS, AND SUPPLIERS. | Cozart | Notification that HB1468 is now Act 558 |
|
HB1506
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…T CONTRACTORS AND SUPPLIERS TO REMEDY CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS. HB1506 Andrews TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMP…”
|
TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; AND TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC EMPLOYER … | Andrews | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1530
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…MEMBERSHIP DUES FROM THE COMPENSATION OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE. HB1530 Achor TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELAT…”
|
TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELATING TO THE ASSESSMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER … | Achor | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1532
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…SMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. HB1532 L. Johnson TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS RARE DISEASE ADVISORY COU…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS RARE DISEASE ADVISORY COUNCIL. | L. Johnson | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
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 |
|
HB1554
· 2 mentions in agenda, chapter
Matched: “…TABLISH THE WORKFORCE EXPERIENCE OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF 2025. HB1554 A. Brown TO CREATE THE ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY REP…”
|
TO CREATE THE ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY REPORTING ACT. | A. Brown | Recommended for study in the Interim by the … |
|
HB1582
Act 708
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1582 McAlindon TO REQUIRE AN INDIVIDUAL TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS…”
|
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 chapter, agenda
Matched: “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 |
|
HB1592
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “HB1592 J. Mayberry TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA…”
|
TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA PUBLIC HEALTH ACT. | J. Mayberry | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB111
Act 395
· 2 mentions in chapter, agenda
Matched: “SB111 K. Hammer TO ESTABLISH THE DENTIST AND DENTAL HYGIENIST COM…”
|
TO ESTABLISH THE DENTIST AND DENTAL HYGIENIST COMPACT. | K. Hammer | Notification that SB111 is now Act 395 |
|
HB1004
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…T LOSS. Page 2 of 4 DEFERRED BILLS Number Sponsor Subtitle 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. |
|
HB1008
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…AGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH. HB1008 A. Collins TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTH…”
|
TO REQUIRE MEDICAID COVERAGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1010
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…AGE FOR POSTPARTUM MOTHERS FOR ONE YEAR AFTER GIVING BIRTH. HB1010 A. Collins TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS ME…”
|
TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1011
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MATERNAL HEALTH SERVICES. HB1011 A. Collins TO CREATE THE RESTORE ROE ACT; AND TO RESTORE A…”
|
TO CREATE THE RESTORE ROE ACT; AND TO RESTORE A WOMAN'S ACCESS TO ABORTION SERVICES. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1012
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ACT; AND TO RESTORE A WOMAN'S ACCESS TO ABORTION SERVICES. HB1012 A. Collins TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO EXTE…”
|
TO REQUIRE THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM TO EXTEND ELIGIBILITY TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FOR FAMILY PLANNING … | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1013
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…BILITY TO CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS FOR FAMILY PLANNING SERVICES. HB1013 Hudson TO PROTECT FERTILITY TREATMENT RIGHTS IN THIS STATE.…”
|
TO PROTECT FERTILITY TREATMENT RIGHTS IN THIS STATE. | Hudson | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1029
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…Hudson TO PROTECT FERTILITY TREATMENT RIGHTS IN THIS STATE. HB1029 D. Garner TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MED…”
|
TO SET THE REIMBURSEMENT RATE IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND … | D. Garner | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1032
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…R MENTAL HEALTH SERVICES AND SERVICES RELATED TO ADDICTION. HB1032 A. Collins TO BAN CONVERSION THERAPY. HB1132 Pilkington TO…”
|
TO BAN CONVERSION THERAPY. | A. Collins | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1079
Act 860
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…TE LICENSING. PENDING FISCAL IMPACT Number Sponsor Subtitle HB1079 F. Allen TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR GENETIC TESTING FOR AN INH…”
|
TO MANDATE COVERAGE FOR GENETIC TESTING FOR AN INHERITED GENE MUTATION FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS; AND … | F. Allen | Notification that HB1079 is now Act 860 |
|
HB1132
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…TO ADDICTION. HB1032 A. Collins TO BAN CONVERSION THERAPY. HB1132 Pilkington TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVID…”
|
TO INCREASE ACCESS TO HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVIDED BY ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSES; AND TO AMEND … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1140
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…RIPTIVE AUTHORITY OF AN ADVANCED PRACTICE REGISTERED NURSE. HB1140 Gramlich TO DEFINE HEALTHCARE PROVIDER REGARDING STUDENT AT…”
|
TO DEFINE HEALTHCARE PROVIDER REGARDING STUDENT ATHLETE CONCUSSION EDUCATION. | Gramlich | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1142
Act 859
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…FOR EVIDENCE-BASED CANCER IMAGING FOR CERTAIN INDIVIDUALS. HB1142 A. Brown TO CREATE THE REPRODUCTIVE EMPOWERMENT AND SUPPORT…”
|
TO CREATE THE REPRODUCTIVE EMPOWERMENT AND SUPPORT THROUGH OPTIMAL RESTORATION (RESTORE) ACT. | A. Brown | Notification that HB1142 is now Act 859 |
|
HB1165
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…RE PROVIDER REGARDING STUDENT ATHLETE CONCUSSION EDUCATION. HB1165 L. Johnson TO PROHIBIT DIFFERENT REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR SE…”
|
TO PROHIBIT DIFFERENT REIMBURSEMENT RATES FOR SERVICES PERFORMED BY THE SAME TYPE OF PROVIDER IN … | L. Johnson | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1218
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…IN DIFFERENT SETTINGS WITHIN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. 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
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ER ASSESSMENTS FOR COGNITIVE FUNCTION FOR CERTAIN PATIENTS. HB1241 J. Mayberry TO ENSURE THAT THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM RE…”
|
TO ENSURE THAT THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM REIMBURSES FOR DENTAL AND ANESTHESIA COSTS FOR HIGH … | J. Mayberry | Notification that HB1241 is now Act 568 |
|
HB1252
Act 965
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…AND ANESTHESIA COSTS FOR HIGH COMPLEXITY ORAL HEALTH CARE. 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 |
|
HB1270
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…NSURE FOR OUT-OF-STATE LICENSURE ACT TO MASSAGE THERAPISTS. HB1270 Pilkington TO ESTABLISH LICENSURE FOR PRESCRIBED PEDIATRIC…”
|
TO ESTABLISH A PRESCRIBED PEDIATRIC EXTENDED CARE PILOT PROGRAM THROUGH A SECTION 1115 MEDICAID DEMONSTRATION … | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1275
Act 389
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ULAS IN THIS STATE TO IMPROVE MATERNAL AND INFANT OUTCOMES. HB1275 Cavenaugh TO PROHIBIT PRIOR AUTHORIZATIONS FOR HEALTHCARE S…”
|
TO PROHIBIT PRIOR AUTHORIZATIONS FOR HEALTHCARE SERVICES PROVIDED FOR TREATMENT OF A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS. | Cavenaugh | Notification that HB1275 is now Act 389 |
|
HB1277
Act 706
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…AM TO REIMBURSE PRESCRIBED PEDIATRIC EXTENDED CARE CENTERS. HB1277 Gramlich TO AMEND PAYMENTS FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION REGARDING…”
|
TO AMEND PAYMENTS FOR CORRECTIVE ACTION REGARDING PETROLEUM STORAGE TANKS. | J. Boyd | Notification that HB1277 is now Act 706 |
|
HB1302
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…SERVICES PROVIDED FOR TREATMENT OF A MENTAL HEALTH CRISIS. HB1302 L. Johnson TO ADD DUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY TO THE UNIVER…”
|
TO ADD DUCHENNE MUSCULAR DYSTROPHY TO THE UNIVERSAL NEWBORN SCREENING ACT. | L. Johnson | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1401
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ULANCE SERVICE'S OPERATORS FOR CERTAIN HEALTHCARE SERVICES. HB1401 Pilkington TO INCLUDE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY SERVICES WIT…”
|
TO INCLUDE ASSISTED LIVING FACILITY SERVICES WITHIN THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT. | Pilkington | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1505
Act 398
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “AGENDA (Revised 3/3/25 @ 2:40PM) Moved HB1505 to Deferred Bills House Committee on Public Health, Welfare…”
|
TO REQUIRE A PUBLIC EMPLOYER TO OFFER AND PROVIDE COVERAGE FOR LICENSED COUNSELING FOR A … | Wing | Notification that HB1505 is now Act 398 |
|
HB1566
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…MPLOYEE WHO HAS EXPERIENCED A TRAUMATIC EVENT. Page 3 of 4 HB1566 McClure TO REQUIRE ADOPTION OF A STATEWIDE PRACTICAL NURSIN…”
|
TO REQUIRE ADOPTION OF A STATEWIDE PRACTICAL NURSING PROGRAM CORE CURRICULUM TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY IN … | McClure | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1575
Act 376
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…R INPATIENT TREATMENT SERVICES FOR SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS. HB1575 Lundstrum TO PROHIBIT A PERSON THAT IS EMPLOYED OR HAS A DI…”
|
TO PROHIBIT A PERSON THAT IS EMPLOYED OR HAS A DIRECT OR INDIRECT INTEREST IN … | Lundstrum | Notification that HB1575 is now Act 376 |
|
HB1584
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…LUM TO INCREASE CONSISTENCY IN PRACTICAL NURSING EDUCATION. HB1584 L. Johnson TO REQUIRE INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENTS OF A BENEFICI…”
|
TO REQUIRE INDEPENDENT ASSESSMENTS OF A BENEFICIARY IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM FOR HOME- AND … | L. Johnson | WITHDRAWN BY AUTHOR |
|
HB1588
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…OMMUNITY-BASED SERVICES BE COMPLETED WITHIN A CERTAIN TIME. HB1588 McAlindon TO REQUIRE APPROVAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEFOR…”
|
TO REQUIRE APPROVAL OF THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY BEFORE THE DEPARTMENT OF HUMAN SERVICES SEEKS OR … | McAlindon | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
HB1619
Act 634
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…G UTILIZATION REVIEW BOARD TO INCLUDE PHYSICIAN ASSISTANTS. 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 |
|
HB1622
Act 635
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…ORY SYNCYTIAL VIRUS DISEASE; AND TO PROVIDE CIVIL IMMUNITY. 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 |
|
SB187
· 1 mention in agenda
Matched: “…EASES COSTS TO THE STATE FOR THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM. SB187 Irvin TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID DRU…”
|
TO AMEND THE COMPOSITION OF THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID DRUG UTILIZATION REVIEW BOARD TO INCLUDE PHYSICIAN … | Irvin | Died in House Committee at Sine Die adjournment. |
|
SB222
Act 301
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB222 B. Davis TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; TO CLARIFY MARKETING BY PROVIDERS UNDER THE … | B. Davis | Notification that SB222 is now Act 301 |
|
SB257
Act 515
· 1 mention in chapter
Matched: “SB257 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO EXTEND THE…”
|
TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO EXTEND THE APPEAL PERIOD FOR PROVIDERS IN THE … | C. Penzo | Notification that SB257 is now Act 515 |
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We'll have staff pass that amendment out. We'll give everyone a second to look over that and then you'll be recognized to present your bill or your amendment.
If you will identify yourself for the record and you'll be recognized to present your
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
1:04
amendment. State Representative Robin Lundstrom, District 18. You recognize You recognized this
amendment actually strikes a section of the bill that we swerved into an area we didn't need to be in, so it just strikes that section. Representative Ladyman, you reckon
for a question on the amendment. Any questions on the amendment? See none anyone in the audience wish to speak for or against the amendment.
See no Representative Ladyman, you recognized for a motion? We have a motion to pass on the amendment. Any discussion on the motion? See none all those in favor say aye. Opposed Your amendment has passed. You're recognized to present your bill as amended. House
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
1:48
Bill 1575. Thank you. um, this actually protects the citizens and what happens right now is we have had in the past people that are members of the PCNE board who work for landfills that they are the referees of.
That is not appropriate, so we just basically say if you have a financial interest in a firm business organization that owns or operates or represents or applies for a solid waste licensing permit. You cannot serve as a member of that board. It's no reflection of the current ones, um, but in the future this would eliminate any look of impropriety, and I also want to thank ADEQ and um some members of the Solid Waste boards in Washington and Benton County who have called to make this bill better. Any questions on the bill?
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
2:36
Representative Pilkington and ask for a question. Thank you, Chair. Representative Lundstrom, will this be kicking anyone off any boards? No, it will not. This is for
future, OK, so no one is losing their board position. OK, thank you for clarification. Any other questions by
the committee? Seeing none, do we have anyone in the audience that would like to
speak for or against the bill? Seeing no one representative Lindstrom, you're recognized to close for your bill. I've closed for my bill, and I would appreciate a due pass.
Representative Ladyman has a motion to pass any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye, opposed. Congratulations, Representative Luns from, you passed your bill. Thank you, as amended. Thank you. Uh, you have an amendment as well for 1576. Yes, I do. Well our staff if they will to pass that amendment out, and we'll give the committee just a second to look over that and then you'll be recognized to present your bill or your amendment.
If you will identify yourself for the record and you'll be recognized to present your amendment for House Bill
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
4:53
1576 State Representative Robin Lundstrom, District 18. You're
recognized. Thank you. This bill actually impacts absolutely nobody right now. This is a future bill right now when you build a solid waste landfill or in the past and actually have the records for it. Landfills have sometimes been built over cars topography. Car's topography are the caves that we have in wonderful elm
springs, Siloam Springs, Springdale, Cave Springs, they're named after these water formations that form way down deep in the earth. This just simply says in the future when you go to build a landfill, we won't build it over a car topography, um, I'm very thankful ADQ caught a couple of things and we've changed those and I think the bill will help us in the future when we go to find a current for the new landfills, it will be in a proper location. Any questions on the amendment?
See 9, we have a motion to adopt the amendment. Representative Bentley, any discussion on the motion? See none, all those in favor say aye. Opposed You recognize to present House Bill 1576 as amended. I think that pretty
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
6:07
much covers it. It's we, we don't want to do something that's a bad idea in the future, and this will hopefully put down that marker. Any questions from the committee,
Representative Richardson, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Lun. Isn't the, the area that there's
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
6:25
a ton of limestone, so will this limit where these locations can be
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
6:29
over topography. It's um it's a type of rock that's dolomite and limestone, um. We've got a ton of limestone in Arkansas, but not everything has the cars topography underneath it. What happens is then there's these fissures and water will go down inside it, that's the issue and when you have a landfill over that and you have a leak, whatever soup is in that landfill is gonna go into that water. So we just need to be cautious in the future. This
doesn't impact any current landfills. It doesn't impact any expansions of
current landfills. This just says in the future we won't put one over a car topography. Thank you.
Speaker 40
7:10
Thank you. Representative Moore, you reck can ask for a question? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Just curious from my understanding this would impact the ecovista landfill for expansion in the future. They still have to come
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
7:22
back to ADEQ for expansion. It does not
impact the current landfill, nor does it impact their expansions. They still have to come in front of this is in the future for new landfills. Thank you. Any other
questions by the committee. Seeing none, is there anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or against the bill? Seeing none, you reckon that's close for your
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
7:53
bill. I'm closed and this is all about protecting our future and good locations.
What's the will of the committee? Have a motion do pass Representative Bentley, any discussion on that motion? See none, all those in favor say I opposed. Congratulations. You have passed your bill as amended. Thank you. Thank you for your time. You're welcome. Are you prepared to uh present House Bill 1610. It also has an amendment. We'll ask staff if they will to pass out
that amendment. We'll give the committee a second to review that, and you'll be recognized to present your amendment.
If you will identify yourself for the record and you'll be recognized to present the amendment for
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
9:59
House Bill 1610. Thank you, sir. Robin Lundstrom District 18. You're recognized. Thank you. The amendment is basically the bill we um.
current law in Arkansas we prohibit abortion except in the life of the mother. What we needed though, and what was not done was a bill clarifying that doctors acting in good faith would not be prosecuted for saving the life
of a pregnant mother. The bill clears up that the doctors did not violate the law and are not subject to prosecution if an unborn child accidentally or unintentionally dies while the doctor is providing medical treatment to a pregnant woman. That is the bill.
All right, Committee, you've heard the amendment. Any discussion or any questions on the amendment. See none, what's the will of the committee? Have a motion to adopt the amendment, Representative Bentley, all
those in favor say aye, opposed. Congratulations, you're recognized to present your bill as amended. Thank you. I won't repeat
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
11:01
what I've already said. I would just appreciate a good vote and any questions. Any questions about the committee? Seeing none, anyone in the audience
wish to speak for or against the bill? Seeing none, you're recognized clothes for your bills, polishes up a good bill and makes it a whole lot
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
11:17
better, and I would ask for a good vote. We have a motion do pass. Any discussion on the motion?
Seeing none. All those in favor say aye opposed. Congratulations, you passed your bill as amended. All right,
committee, we're going to continue the agenda a little bit out of order. We're going to recognize Senator Ervin. She has business on the other end, so we want to be deferential to that. We're gonna allow her to present Senate bill. 265.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
12:33
the report A little housekeeping here. Y'all need this closer to the people, right? If I break something, I'm really, really uh sorry a senator, a senator would come to a House committee and break your microphone. That's right,
Senator, if you will identify yourself for the record, and you will be recognized to present Senate Bill 265. Thank you,
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
13:00
Mr. Chair, members of the committee, I'm Senator Missy Irvin,
District 24. I'm here with Arkansas um environment, energy and environment agency, um, this bill is the modification of the solid waste licensing Committee, um, what this does. is that we'll make technical corrections and reduce membership on the wastewater licensing Committee and solid waste Licensing Committee. These are subcommittees of their is that we'll make technical corrections and reduce membership on the wastewater licensing Committee and solid waste Licensing Committee. These are subcommittees of the overall um pollution control, and, and ecology commission and so when they reduced the membership of
the main commission, these subcommittees kind of got left off, uh, accidentally, and so they're trying to just keep that, bring that back into line with what they've done with the overall commission and reducing. numbers, it will broaden who may serve in the environmental officer program, so if you'll look in the second part of the bill, you'll see um that people that are part of the planning and development districts can then be now be trained as environmental officers and be part of that program, and so that's another part of the bill, um, but it expands that
eligibility to serve. I think that's gonna be very beneficial to our districts and across the state, again, reducing the solid waste licensing Committee from 7 to 5 voting members. and the wastewater licensing Committee from 8 to 5 voting members, and it makes modifications to the solid waste licensing committee to remove outdated references, and it also extends the apprenticeship licenses in solid waste management facilities from 1 year to 2 years, which is consistent with all other solid waste operator licenses.
Any questions from the committee, Representative Richardson, you're recognized for
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
14:40
a question. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Senator Irving, you on, what is this? Page 2. You strike through um one member to be appointed by the commission shall be a faculty member of a credit. What made you strike that language? Hi,
Speaker 59
14:57
good morning. Bailey Taylor, DEQ director and chief administrator of Environment for Energy and Environment that they, the faculty member will still be a part of any sort of
licensing going forward because they are required to perform the education for these operators. They just would not have a vote on the committee, and that is consistent with the solid waste licensing Committee. So, OK, OK, thank you resolve the conflict, yeah, it resolves that conflict. Representative
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
15:24
Ladyman, you're recognized for a question. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Uh, I'm just like
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
15:35
you, you're reducing the number from 7 to 5.
Is that correct? So you're eliminating 21 of them is the, uh, the one that was just mentioned. Who's the other position that I maybe it's in here, I just didn't see it.
Speaker 59
15:48
It's a duplicative position. There are multiple operators that represent the same type of um industry and so we just removed one of them, one of the two. Thank you. Any other
Speaker 40
15:57
questions from the committee? I Seeing none. Is there
anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or against the bill.
See none Senator, you're recognized to close for your
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
16:14
bill. Uh, thank you. I appreciate the good work, um, with the Department of Energy and Environment, and I would appreciate a good vote. Thank you.
Have a motion due pass Representative Ladyman. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none.
All those in favor say aye, opposed. Congratulations, Senator, you passed your bill. Committee, we're going to go back to the top of our agenda, Representative Johnson House Bill 1185. You're reckon to go to the end of the table.
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
16:44
If, if I may, Mr. Chair, I have a couple
of people to come to the table to that. Do Yeah, you can sit here and you can sit
there. Just pull that microphone out. These microphones are awkward. If you
will identify yourself for the record, ask your guests to identify themselves for the record, and you'll be recognized to present your
Speaker 74
17:07
bill.presentative Lee Johnson, District 47. Hello, I am Danya Arnold, registered dietitian, and Arkansas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics president.
Speaker 77
17:17
Leslie Jones registered dietitian and also I'm the public policy coordinator for the Arkansas Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. You're recognized members, we've seen and heard
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
17:25
several of these compacts. I'm going to get out of the way and let these young ladies here present with the knowledge base that I don't have, but before I do, I do want to point out, uh, for the members of the committee, page 25 line 9 through I see representative Long nodding. I think you'll see there on page 25 at the top, I think it's line 9, the amendment that we've been
asked to add to several of these compacts, delegating our authority to the legislative council. I just want to make sure and point that out, that that amendment has been added to this compact. It's It's a long bill, so I didn't want you have to hunt for it, um, and, and with that I'm gonna turn it over to these ladies to present the values of
Speaker 74
18:06
this compact. Thank you. Thank you all for hearing us today. We are very excited that this is a bill in works here. Um, we have 4 other states that have passed the dietetic Compact bill, we were actually asked because Arkansas is one of the
states that already has license or regulations for dieticians, which is very important. We also have a clear pathway to becoming a registered dietician, so this would allow dieticians in our state to practice across state lines with other states in the compact. We have many dieticians now doing telehealth that To apply and wait for multiple licensures that can be expensive and um take a lot of time, so that would relieve that burden. Of course we also have a lot of patients and clients that are in
underserved areas on the border, so that would also allow us to better serve those patients and clients. Leslie, do you want
Speaker 77
18:59
anything? And it also would support our relocating military spouses. Any questions by
the committee. Representative Richardson, you reckon asked for a question. Just on
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
19:13
the is there a fee attached to this? No.
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
19:21
Not that I know of. I'd have to look a little closer representing Richardson to be sure and say with certainty. I, I, I don't, I have not added a fee to this, if there's not a fee in the traditional compact, there's nothing I've added to it to create a fee.
Any other questions by the committee. See none. Is there anyone in the
audience that would like to speak for or against the bill? See none, you recognize the clothes for your bill. I'm close to my bill and make a motion to pass. That's a proper motion. Any discussion on the motion?
See none, all those in favor say aye. Opposed. Congratulations, you passed your bill. Members, we're gonna jump down to Senate Bill 168, Representative Brown, are you in the room? There you are. You're red to go to the end of the table. Sometimes it's not Members of this bill does have an amendment we're gonna have
staff pass that out, give you just a few minutes to review that amendment, and then you will be recognized.
Speaker 94
20:25
How are you? I'm feeling better, yes, so much better. we should make things easy
Speaker 95
20:33
peasy with this I think it should. They get addresses all of their concerns.
Speaker 101
20:50
I didn't get a copy of it's great, great. I meant to hand that to you.
Representative, did you bring an amendment to this bill?
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
21:28
Yes, Mr. Chair, I did. I, I gave it, I gave it to the lady sitting by sitting over there, and I gave, I signed the 5 copies. I thought she was gonna have it for distribution. I they copy this if they want to. OK, we're trying to find that amendment. Hang on just a second.
Speaker 109
22:13
Oh. OK it need to be. Representative, we're gonna ask you to step back over
to the side, staff has to go and make copies. They didn't have the amendment, uh, before the committee started, so they're going to take care of that. We're gonna move down the list, HB 1559. Representative McGrew, are you in the room? You're to go to the end of the table. Thank you Mr. Chairman. Have
permission to bring someone to the table with me. Yes, sir, if you will identify yourself for the record.
Speaker 113
22:55
As Ms. Stone to do the same and you'll be recognized
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
23:00
to present your bill. Representative Richmondre District 85. Paula Stone, Department of Human Services. Reagan. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Colleagues, I bring to you House Bill 1559. I think all of us are aware of the effects of drug and alcohol are having on our community, how it's infecting, how it's affecting us not only our families but also the cost and
To the communities what this bill does is exactly what the title says. It's to ask DHS to seek a waiver to the Arkansas Medicare program for coverage of inpatient treatments for substance use disorders and other purposes. And we're available for any questions. Committee, any questions? Representative
Pilkington you recognize for a question. Thank you, Chair. Why
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
23:36
are we not already seeking this waiver? Why do we need this
Speaker 118
23:40
legislation? So we have currently submitted the waiver, um, so we're working
through it with um Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, and so I believe we have talked about that, so making sure that implementation happens in a in a timely manner. So we've already
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
23:56
submitted the waiver. This is just put into law that we would, I mean, I'm, I'm not tracking if we've already done it, we've already submitted for a waiver,
Speaker 119
24:04
why do we need this then in law? If we've already done it. So I think
Speaker 118
24:10
just keeping us all on track and and making sure that once the approval comes through,
the implementation does happen at the state level, and, and making sure that we're on, on track with that. Um, so one of the things that happened is making sure that, um, providers have that assurance that Medicaid is going to pay for these services in the future, but it is all dependent upon CMS's approval of the waiver and then our ability to implement if we didn't have this in place,
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
24:39
but we did get approved. There's no guarantee that you guys would implement the program? Is that what you're telling me?
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
24:47
No, that is not what I'm saying. So I, I, it's to ensure that it follows the proper processes and that in this is also requires them to report back to us as legislation, so as legislators, so we know what's going on and for us to stay on top of it and make sure that that everything's going the way we want it to go. But so we've
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
25:07
already submitted for the waiver and let's say we get approved this waiver, but there's nothing, so you're saying we have to have this though so that they report back to the legislature on what you're doing. Yes. Got you. So.
I mean, I would hope that they would do that. even if we didn't have this pass, but we got approved for a federal waiver that we applied for, so I mean I'm not against it. I mean we can vote for it. It's fine. I'm sure it's, it's no big deal. I'm just, and DHS submitted for this, so that's why I'm kind of confused while we're coming in after and doing it, but I mean, it's no big deal. I'm gonna vote for him and DHS
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
25:38
has been very willing to work with us in moving this forward. This is just to make sure we have legislated oversight of it and that it goes well. OK. Representative Ladyman, you're recognize for a question. Uh
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
25:51
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Well, I, I think Representative Pilkington asked my question, but I'm not sure, but Um, so this just is asking for the authority to to obtain the waiver. doesn't have the details on how, where, when. Is that correct? And that'll be done later. How we're win? Yes, it doesn't
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
26:09
have in there. I think that will be done later when we get the, when we get awarded the waiver and
hopefully we'll be it will because it's, it's very much needed. There's a big shortfall in money for treatment dollars
in Arkansas and once we get it, then I think we can
Speaker 124
26:25
move forward with some other, other legislation rules too to affect that. All right. Thank you. Any of the questions by
the committee. Representative Henley, do you have a question? Do pass when
appropriate. OK, we'll take that motion at the appropriate time. So you know other questions by the committee. Is there anyone in the audience that
would like to speak for or against the bill. See no representative, you recognized close for your bill.
I'm closed, and thank you very much. Representative Henley has a motion to pass. Any discussion on the motion? Seeing none, all those in favor say aye opposed. Congratulations, you passed your bill. Thank you. Thank you very much, Mr. All right, committee, we're gonna go back to Senate Bill 168, I believe the staff has been able to get that amendment ready for us. We're gonna hand the amendment out, give you a
second to review that and then uh we'll recognize Representative Brown to present her amendment.
Representative Brown, if you will, identify yourself for the record and you'll be recognized
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
29:16
to present your amendment. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Carolyn Brown, District 67, and um my guest here with me today, Julie, would you introduce yourself, Julie
Eckert. Your you present the amendment on Senate Bill 168. Thank
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
29:31
you. All right, I believe that this amendment will address most of the concerns that have been raised by the committee of first
off, the emergency clause is being deleted in its entirety. It will be no emergency, um, the, um. Anyhow, uh, on page one, line 24, it was just a really uh. We used to call it the State Board of Health, I believe
it's now being it's been corrected to the Department of Health and then on line 26. Um
Above line 26, actually, um, 1786315 in section. One underneath. A, you would insert these
two paragraphs, 2 and 3. Uh, the state examination under this section is an additional option to licensure in this state and does not replace or negate the national examination. I think that was a major concern for folks, um, the state examination under this section shall be offered as an optional. Pathway to life insurance shall
only be offered to unlicensed graduates of an approved massage therapy school or students enrolled in a massage therapy apprenticeship program in this state who have completed the educational requirements
under 178,630. 6, And then on page 2. Uh, we're inserting. Um And the state examiner but the uh State examination shall not be
computer adaptive. That's not a change, but then we're adding this additional language, the department may require massage therapy instructors who currently provide instruction in an approved massage therapy school in this state or massage therapy apprenticeship program in this state to submit examination questions where the state examination and then uh
what follows are the details of what would be included, and I'd be happy to take any questions. Committee, any questions on
the amendment, Representative Richardson, you're recognized for a question on the amendment.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
31:46
Representative Brown, I'm, I'm trying to read through it real quick, but don't, no
hurry. So, so you are saying that it can be conducted on a computer. Am I reading that correctly? Yeah or you striking the language that says it cannot, shall not be computer adapted. That means they can't take it on a computer. They can take it on a computer, but it wouldn't be computer
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
32:08
adaptive. That, that is a. I'm slow. Explain what that means that's OK. I'm gonna let
Speaker 144
32:18
Miss Eckert explain that. So with the national exam, the national exam is what's called computer adaptive, which means uh the computer uh chooses the question for the test taker. So if the test taker gets a difficult question. The computer presents the next question is as difficult or even more difficult as the question that they just got correct. So it actually goes up in difficulty level as you take in the
The national exam and there's some other issues, um, that I dressed with uh Miss Patty Glenn that was here, uh, to speak. Um Thursday before last, and we had a good conversation about about some of the issues that were going on with the national exam compared to the educational requirements currently uh in Arkansas and what those are, and I can speak. Just more of that conversation if you wish. Thank
Representative Rose, you're recognized for a question on the amendment. You
know what, never mind. Thank you, Mr. Chair. OK. Any other questions on the amendment? question We have a motion to adopt the amendment. Any discussion on the motion? See none, all those in favor say I opposed. Congratulations, your amendment has been adopted. You are recognized to present Senate bill 168 as amended.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
33:53
Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, I believe we've gone over this bill quite a bit. Well, let's see, I have. Excuse me I'm thinking about the Senate presentation, um, the state examination for licensed state Board of Health simply uh according to, um, I believe the uh best practices of the uh massage therapy board was to be able to provide a state exam and that is what this legislation is providing for just simply
providing for a state exam. It is does does not negate the uh other the exam that's accepted nationally. Um And that's really about that's the extent of the bills just to be able to provide for a state exam. In accordance
with the, the text that the students are studying. that complete your presentation?
I can speak to them if, if Ms.
Speaker 150
35:08
Eckert would like to say more. You're recognized to identify yourself for the record, please. Julie Eckert, um, I'm
Speaker 144
35:14
retired law enforcement. We met a couple of weeks ago. The I retired after 25 years as a sex crimes detective and human trafficking, and so I want to clear that up. There have been some emails sent out that this will somehow promote human trafficking. I would never do anything that would promote human trafficking, just for the record, and I'd
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
35:33
like to say in addition to what Ms. Eckert just said, I have checked with the attorney General's office and they say
Speaker 145
35:42
in no way would this legislation promote human trafficking. Thank you. Um, I'm also
Speaker 144
35:47
an instructor for the state of Arkansas for the Criminal Justice Institute, um, part of that, uh, training is to provide exam questions, uh, I've trained over 1000 officers across the state, massage therapy is my retirement career and um when this
Speaker 145
36:03
State exam was first brought to the committee. Um, I also, uh, was not in full favor of a state exam, I thought, uh, I
Speaker 144
36:14
just, uh, kind of bought into this, this whole national exam and that's what you guys have been receiving these emails about, um, we developed an ad hoc committee we met from June of 2022 to November of 2022, we voted that it was best practice to have a
state exam as an option and um we took that to the committee. They voted to have that state exam as an option. We followed the direction of the attorneys, uh, from the Department of Health on developing an exam committee to come up with over 700 questions for an exam. They've all been categorized in different categories because initially, um, the head of the Know that massage therapy falls under cosmetology, so we're not
under any kind of uh health uh regulations. We are under cosmetology and so initially the head of cosmetology said that they were just going to pull 100 questions that we had submitted, but I didn't feel
Speaker 145
37:17
like that would make for a fair exam for anyone, uh, someone could get 100 questions on anatomy and someone else could get 100 questions on technique, and that wouldn't be fair. So that's why we use the massage. Therapy law in Arkansas to part out how the questions would be laid out for the exam so that
this would be a fair exam. We put in that it wouldn't be computer adapted because that also does not seem fair, I guess if you could figure out However, many to miss, so your questions would be easier. Maybe you could trick the computer to have an easier exam, but you shouldn't have to do that. We should have a straightforward exam. And Miss Patty Glynn was here um that morning they had posted on the massage therapy page, and I
asked her about this post. Uh, she said The massage, education, entry-level analysis project identified 625 hours is the minimum number of hours required to receive a thorough entry level education. The optimal performance range of massage therapy education hours to achieving a passing score. On the national exam has been identified as 600 to 650.
When receiving 600 to 650 hours of education, 81% of the national exam applicants passed the national exam on their first try. Arkansas in 21 other states only require 500 hours of education. Which means that this national exam is out of scope of practice for what's required in Arkansas. I asked her about that. I asked her about the director, um, when
Speaker 144
39:12
I talked to her about my exam and how difficult it had been and that I didn't know if I had passed the exam that she had told me I had over studied. And that the high failure rate for the national exam was because of overachievers that study too hard for the exam. She, I also
Speaker 145
39:31
ask her about um a comment that was made in one of our recorded meetings that said that for there are, it's a 4 answer multiple choice exam.
Speaker 144
39:47
And that one of the 4 answers is a trick answer to try to trick the test taker that's taken the national exam. And she said that is still true. Why would we try to trick these graduates. They've already spent 500 hours and 5000 to $10,000 to go through this training. Now you can take the national exam
Speaker 145
40:09
as many times as you want to. After our last
Speaker 153
40:13
meeting, one of the instructors told me one of
Speaker 144
40:17
her students had to take the exam 10 times before they passed it. It's at $265 plus a $20 sitting fee. So that's $285 every time that you have to take this national exam. We I think we got it. Try your mic again now. The
mics are messing up. It's on now. You're recognized to continue, OK.
Speaker 144
40:49
The uh when the exam was It was presented to the Board of Health, but they were not presented accurate information. So I also asked spoke to Miss Patty Glenn and let her know that there were questions on the national exam that were not true for Arkansas, that had to do with the law. So when they presented, Um, after we'd already had over 700 questions ready. Um, they'd
Speaker 145
41:21
already worked out a fee schedule with a third party provider. All of this had already taken place and uh when they were asked the questions at the Board of Health, they were unable to give the correct information because the presenters
Speaker 144
41:35
were from cosmetology and was an attorney. So they didn't, they didn't present that there were incorrect questions on the exam. They didn't present the high failure rate of the exam. They didn't present that it was computer adaptive so that it
Speaker 145
41:51
became more difficult, the harder that you studied. Um, the shouldn't
Speaker 144
41:55
be in place to fail graduates. The exam should be in place to validate what they've
Speaker 145
42:00
learned based on what we require them to learn in Arkansas. So, uh, the next
Speaker 144
42:08
meeting that we had, I had a conversation with the attorney that presented to the Department of Health, I mean, to the Board of Health and I was advised that uh I would
need to run a bill for us to be able to get a state exam. And here we are. So, this is um these graduates, they, they don't have representation, um, this does not affect the licensed massage therapists in any way Jews are not going to go up. There's been rampant rumors on social media and I believe that all of the amendments that we've put in place, um, will address all of those rumors. Thank you. Thank you, Representative Richardson. You're recognized for a
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
42:52
question. Thank you, Mr. Chair and thank you for being here again. I got a couple of questions. So I hear you say that the harder
Speaker 153
43:00
you study, the more they fail. Yes, that's what the director told me. In an open recorded meeting,
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
43:05
that's all recorded. OK. Well. Thank you. I've not heard that before, um, my second, my second question was it also did you say that there were more hours required for
the state, not the state, but for the national certification and the state certification, 700 and something as opposed to 500. 625 to be
able to pass their exam. Yes. OK. And then my third question is, so, Would you say that the the state testing is more rigorous or less rigorous than
Speaker 144
43:40
the national testing. I would say that the state exam is based on what our educational requirements here in Arkansas
Speaker 145
43:46
are, and that the questions would come from our books that we use in Arkansas, the national exam comes from a huge library, and they have about, I, I think the last
estimate was like 10,000 questions and some of those questions are not going to be covered in the. books that we use here
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
44:05
in Arkansas. So do you think it would be more difficult or
Speaker 144
44:12
less difficult for the state. testing. I think that the the difficulty of the questions are going to be of the same level because I worked on that committee, so I know what the, the difficulty level
Speaker 145
44:22
is of the questions, but the requirements of the percentages are not as high as
what those are for the national exam because they meet the educational requirements for Arkansas stated in the Arkansas massage therapy law. Oh, OK, thank you. I might get
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
44:41
back. Representative Richardson in response, uh, I think to elaborate a little bit is that. The uh is your mic on? It looks like it is it the green light
was on. OK, we're having trouble hearing you.
I'm sorry. Just pull it closer to you if you can.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
45:04
The, the, the MA test may be
more rigorous, simply because it requires more education to be able to pass it, then what we are requiring here in Arkansas for a massage therapy license. So, So if I heard you right,
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
45:22
you just said it would be more education. To pass the test at the national level then would be required at the state level. They
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
45:31
don't, they don't necessarily require that you have the additional
hours of education, but in order to be able to pass it realistically you would need more hours to be able to pass that. OK Am I making that clear? Thank you. Representative
Rose, did you have a question? I did. Thank you, Mr. Chair. You recognize. Ms. Eckert, um, I'm reading through,
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
45:54
I have read and I'm reading through again the bill with the amended language and I, I wanted to know. Do you, do you have an
anticipation how many people will take this test? I do not. Is there Is
Speaker 158
46:17
there an existence, the new test, as this bill intends already that the test um was
Speaker 144
46:23
put together, um, under the, uh, advisement of the Department of Health and had already been turned over to the Department of Health and had already been turned over to the third-party
provider and we were, as far as I knew, we were ready to go with a, with a state exam, um, as My understanding would be that the questions would be, um, randomized and so no one would be getting the same exam. All of these questions would be randomized. The other, the other issue with the national exam that uh I'm sorry, hold on, could we get
Speaker 145
46:58
the Department of Health at the table? I'd like
Speaker 148
47:01
to have them comment on that. Is there someone here from the Department of Health. Yeah.
Yeah, that's why I take. you would please identify yourself for the
record. Matt you Members, if you're not, if you're not asking a current question, please turn your mic off. Matt Gilmore Department
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
47:40
of Health. Mr. Gilmore, if you would, I just kind of wanted to know if
this exam currently exists or if it's going to have to be created after this bill passes. Like, are we, are we sitting on go with something, or is it just in the kind of waiting stages. I think
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
47:57
we have a general idea of how it will work, I think. And I wasn't in all his conversations when this happened, you know, a year or so ago or whenever, um, I think that we've got a general idea of what we're looking for. We'll have to probably um update some of those questions and that sort of thing, but we can implement
it. It it won't happen. The emergency clauses, that's a good thing it was removed, so we appreciate that. We hadn't seen the amendment, so that would But I think we can, we can implement it, but it won't be exactly the same questions, I think that we
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
48:29
probably put forward. So I think for for your department kind of the three questions I had is, so there will have to be a test created. Somebody
will have to oversee that and sign off on it, and then somebody will have to administer it and then oversee the completion, the scoring, and the dissemination of those grades. Is that all going to fall under
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
48:47
you guys? Yeah, we'll, we'll likely, uh, we'll oversee it, but we'll likely have a, a testing entity help us administer it and provide the over the administration of it. So there will be a cost to contract that out. I believe
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
49:00
so, yes. Um, which was going to be what my next question was, is there a cost to create and administer this. Um, if I remember
Speaker 182
49:08
correctly, I want to say the estimate was around
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
49:17
10,000. So. It's going to be about a $100 per test for the cost, I believe. I'm Chuck Thompson has been involved in
this some. If you will, please identify yourself for the record and
Speaker 184
49:34
you recognized to answer the question, Charles Thompson, attorney,
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
49:36
Arkansas Department of Health. um Representative, that's a good question. Well, originally when this was developed through the ad hoc committees, there was a third party test administration that we use through the cosmetology
section, massage, cosmetology and body art are under the same section, both for cost allocation and just for ease of administration when when this body saw fit to put massage therapy under the Department of Health. Um, we originally got with the third party that or cosmetology exam to get a guesstimate on that, and they gave us about $10,000 implementation, $78 per. Per test taker that that's paid by the test taker just like it is for the MBAs. It's the student to pay or the apprentice that pays the testing fee. Um, since that time, that third
party, we don't use them for cosmetology anymore, frankly, we thought that we could go with a better company. We had some concerns about the performance. The new company says no implementation, zero implementation costs, and $99.99 dollars per test per student, so um again the student would would pay that fee. Thank you. And um I don't know if
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
50:41
this is the department who would have this, or if we would have to go through somebody else. I heard Mrs. Ms. is it Dr. Eckert, Ms.
Eckert. Miss, OK, sorry, I didn't want to, uh, incorrectly title you there. Ms. Eckert, uh, mentioned that there is uh just a significant fail rate on this MEx that people having to take it several times. I had, I had been told that in the state we had like an 80% pass rate on that. So I'm trying to determine if there is this, like if this test is causing a ridiculous number of fails and students are having to pay over and over and over. That doesn't seem fair to those who are taking it, but I had heard the opposite of that before coming in here. Can you either of you
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
51:22
guys speak to that? The M, they keep their own data because they're the ones that administer it. They've told us that Arkansas is an 80% pass rate. That was what they informed us directly. I can't speak onto their data or how they collect it, but we've been told that Arkansas has an 86 I'm sorry, not
Speaker 187
51:36
86, please make sure I speak correctly. 80% pass rate 80, that's what I heard as well. Um
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
51:41
And do we know what the pass rate would be of the new test? I don't
Speaker 188
51:48
think there's a way to represent if there's a way to project that. OK, so the new test.
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
51:55
will cost less, but we don't know. With certainty if it will have a higher or a lower pass rate than the current test that that is. Being
Speaker 187
52:01
a minister, we don't have no, we don't have a way. We don't have a
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
52:06
way to project that. We couldn't say either way, Representative. I'm gonna jump out of the queue
for now. No problem. Members, we have several, um, several folks in the queue, so be sure and keep your questions kind of tailor focused and and not repeating what's been previously asked. Representative Long, you're recognized for a question.
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
52:26
Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I didn't see anything in in the this bill about continuing education. Is there any other requirements already on the books for continuing education for To maintain
Speaker 144
52:37
this license. There is there uh we're required 18 hours of continuing education every 2 years. and I had a question for the health
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
52:44
department too, if you wouldn't mind if we run off, man. Uh Uh, you know, back when I got my licenses through the health
department, basically the health department administered themselves do y'all not administer, you know, like the DR license and the actual licenses, those type of things yourself like you used to. We do, uh, I think some, I think we're gradually
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
53:07
trying to get to where it's more accessible to, you know, have it in a, uh, on an online type but a test taking center where it's more accessible to people to go get their test. So we do do some in-house, but We try to make it as easy as possible to take the test. OK. Thank you, sir.
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
53:35
Representative Bennett, you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, what is the stance from the Arkansas Department of Health on this bill. We're neutral. Follow up. Um, does Arkansas offer any other occupations, two separate exam options. I'm not aware of any with the
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
54:07
The boards, and I'm not aware of any. A program, to be honest with you. They're, there may be,
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
54:21
but I'm just not aware of it. Thank you. Representative Ferguson, you're. Yeah, thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative and ask one of my questions, and the other question was asked by Representative Rose, but I had one quick question, uh, to the Department of Health. How does this legislation affect Someone who is applying for a
license. I heard testimony regarding national certification and then I heard testimony regarding changes to the test for the uh massage therapist. How, how does this affect it? Um, Representative, this would be for licenses that
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
54:51
are good in Arkansas, so if you take a state exam in Arkansas, your licensed practice in Arkansas. It may or may not be accepted in other states. Some states require an MLEX, some don't. I don't have those, those states broken down
off the top of my head so there is, there would be potential portability issues for someone going to another
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
55:15
state, but it just that just depends on the state. So someone, uh, not passing the national certification would not affect their license. Here in
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
55:25
the state of Arkansas. The way the bill was originally written, the Department of Health interpreted it as that as such now that Representative Brown has amended it, I think it's even more clear that this is strictly another option for test takers and
students and apprentices in Arkansas that want to practice in Arkansas, at least that's how the Department of Health reads it,
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
55:52
OK, OK. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative Perry, you Do you have a question? Yeah, yeah, thank
you, Mr. Chairman. I, I missed now I I missed part of it, but I'm, I'm reading this and so there's a current, if I understand this correctly, there's already a current exam that's $250 265,
something like that. And in so this looks like we're wanting to Make it to where we can have our state. Testing So more people can pass. Well, you know, not everyone needs to pass. I mean, that's, you know, not everyone, you know, that's in the insurance in, in the insurance business, not everyone gets a license. I understand what you're saying, um.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
56:43
The uh board the the massage therapy board determined as far as their best practices that it would be that it would be a good idea to have a state test. This test would be for people who did not really care to have portability and um. It would be, it is geared. Specifically to the text that the massage therapy students study here in Arkansas. And so
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
57:09
the this, the health department or whoever they
contract with to provide this basically make it easier so they could
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
57:20
be certified. You could look at it that way. However, as um Miss Eckert explained on the the uh on the test of the legal part of the test, they, uh, the questions that are asked do not comport with Arkansas law, OK, so it makes, you know, if a student knows Arkansas law, they most likely are going to answer the test question incorrectly. So
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
57:44
when it and on page 2 line 9 when it says the state exam shall not
be computer adaptive. It's not going to, the questions won't get harder as you answer harder questions.
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
57:56
They're all going to be simple questions. Yes, and, and I don't thoroughly understand computer adaptive. So, um, I have studied
Speaker 143
58:03
about it, but I don't fully understand it and
Speaker 142
58:06
I wouldn't. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chairman,
Speaker 144
58:08
I wouldn't say simple questions. They're not simple questions, but they're not harder, not more difficult
questions because you've got a question correct. They, they were just going to be straightforward and fair questions. Mhm Representative Pilkington, you recognize. Thank you, and I
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
58:30
just want to make sure I got the history correct on this because my understanding is the Department of Health, when the massage law was written, there were multiple vendors across the country that were able to do testing so we could pick a vendor that went with Arkansas's specific, that meant Arkansas law. But unfortunately now
there's one vendor, the IMAX, and it's that way or the highway, and so we are now creating it to basically re-establish what was the legislative intent of the original law which was to have multiple vendors. which there could be a different selection that would close that would be closer to matching what Arkansas law is. Would you or would you not agree with that statement? Matt, you can answer the question. If you got the right answer. I wasn't sure if it was for us
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
59:11
or for the folks at the end of the, I think that is the intent of the
what the committee wanted to do. I think that they
Speaker 40
59:38
wanted their option, yeah. Represented more you recognize. Thank you, Mr. Chair. OK, sorry to be slow here. So we're in this law, we're going to allow massage therapists the option to either take the national exam or
the state exam? OK. And I think this might be for you, Mr. Mr. Gil Gilmore, sorry, I can't talk. Are there any other disciplines under the cosmetology board in which the state of Arkansas allows them the
Speaker 227
1:00:03
option to choose what tests they want to take in order to be licensed.
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
1:00:13
ed So under that, it's a technical advisory committee on board, that's the only profession underneath it, so there's not any other. Um, test. Me.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:00:24
The department, thank you, Representative for the question. The Department of Health oversees a lot of, a lot of boards and commissions that are directly um that are overseen by the Board of Health and are also independent, such as the medical board and things of that nature. I can't think of one off the top of my head. I'm not saying they don't exist because we have a lot of programs, um, and I just wanna make sure we're clear massage therapy has their own, their own technical advisory committee. Originally, the the state massage therapy Board was an independent board, um, and it up until up until
2015 when this body saw fit to dissolve it, turn it into a technical advisory committee, allow it certain. powers and duties under the code but still be overseen by the Board of Health. The cosmetology board's the same way. They're CTA, so they're, they're, they operate very much the same way. So just make sure we're clear that they're they're separate boards, they're separate entities that were independent, brought under the Department of Health per the desire of this legislature. So, um, but to your question as to two separate
options, um, I, I can't think of any now to represent Pilkington's Point. At one time there were about there were 2 or 3 options on tests on national exams. Those and they're actually They don't, they don't exist anymore. They're not a national exam for massage, so to speak, for initial licener. So, so that is accurate. So at one point, That became in blacks became the only option.
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:01:59
Representative Richardson, you recognize. Thank you. Miss Eckert, do you know what happened to the other, from what I've heard, there were several other testing. Opportunities a while back. What happened to those other? Do
Speaker 144
1:02:13
you know what happened to those other testing facilities. It's my understanding that in 2014, the Ilex bought out the national exam that was the other option, and um before we came under the umbrella of the Department of Health, the board as it stood
alone, decided uh no longer to give the old state exam, the old state exam is not anything remotely close to the questions. That are written in this new exam. Um, apparently it was just one paper exam and once you had that exam, uh, at your school, you, you knew all of the exam questions that were going to be on the exam. So they, they did away with that and uh they decided to go with the inblex, although in our rules, it still states that the national
leagues, the other national exam is available and Ilex is available and that a state exam from another uh The state would be accepted for transfer of license as well. Thank you. Any other questions from members? Representative Rose, you recognize. Thank
you, Mr. Chair. Is there a shortage of massage therapists
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:03:18
in the state? Is that an understood thing? That's my understanding. The Department of Health agree. You have a position on that.
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:03:41
There we go. Representative, I, I, that is, that would be an industry question, you know, that they, we don't track number of clients or things like that, so we don't have a way to crunch that data. We, we have been, I understand that some of the industry believe that that to be so. We don't have a way to to confirm or deny
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:04:02
that. Is there, is there an association position on this bill or on the new test or on the MLEx like is there a massage therapists association? Do they have a position on this. The
Speaker 144
1:04:13
IMTA committee voted that it was in best practice for us to have this as an optional
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
1:04:19
pathway, and I appreciate that that it's, that you guys stated or restated that this is not a replacement of, but in addition to, um, so in theory, and it may have already been stated. With this, with this. Be a pathway for there to be more licensed massage therapists in our
state. OK. All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Any other questions for the committee? Representative Ferguson, you recognize
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
1:04:48
your question. Thank you, Mr. Chair, to the health department. You have an
estimate of how many license massage therapists, we have in the state of Arkansas. Representative, if I remember correctly, last time
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
1:04:59
I looked, I think it was around 220 to 2300. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. All right, if you guys would uh
move right at the end of the table. I'll start calling up people signed up to speak against the bill. We have Ashley Smith.
She's not gonna testify then. Is there a Mariah Pike? And I may not have said that correctly,
but Against All, all signups are against just for the committee's knowledge. If you would introduce yourself and you recognized
Mariah Pike
Unverified
1:05:48
speak. Good morning. My name is Mariah Pike. I'm a massage therapist in
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:05:53
Cabot, Arkansas. And I, I do definitely appreciate all the amendments to the bill and I think that definitely improves it. Um
Excuse me, we did have some concerns, um, at least I don't want to take up too much, too much of your time, um, but one thing that I did want to uh discuss real quick is actually how the computer adaptive test works. It doesn't just make questions harder and harder and harder and harder. It makes questions harder until you get one wrong to find out what your level of knowledge is. So the difficulty of the test is tailored to the individual, not just we're just going to make it harder like.
People who studied really hard are breaking the curve. Um, so that's, that's my understanding of how the computer adaptive test works. Um, Arkansas, as stated earlier, has an 80% pass rate. That is 10% higher than the national average. This test is not too hard for us. It is not. Um Another thing that I really wanted to discuss is, uh, while we are under the under
cosmetology right now as massage therapists. Massage therapy at large is being more considered as part of the medical community. The American massage Therapy Association just did a survey of people who receive massage and 86% of people say that massage therapy should be, should be considered a medical profession. All of the medical professions who work within within the medical community have national exams, and we need to be on par with them because
not only, not only with that, that survey, but additionally in 2024, Baylor University did study that the overarching end of that study was massage should be a mainstream medical treatment. Our medical system is stressed. We are having so many difficulties within our medical system that massage needs to be a part of that and this national exam keeps us relevant within within that community. See.
Another concern that I had with the test is not just who is going to administer the test, but how is this test going to be maintained. The reason the ELEx is the only test available nationally is because of the cost of maintaining the test, uh, medical research changes annually. I mean, it, it changes so quickly, um, all the tests, all the test questions would have to be maintained that whole bank of questions, um. And so there has to be some sort of cost involved in that. Uh,
and who is going to be responsible for the maintenance of the exam. Um, at least one school in Arkansas works with Arkansas rehab. Um, I, I understand that the test is going to be done through a third party, a third party, um, are they going to have the considerations for people with physical, a physical and learning disabilities, uh, currently Pierson View has options to help people with dyslexia. You can get a reader
for the test, um, uh, one of our schools locally recently just graduated, graduated. A blind student and so considerations had to be made for that. Um, and so those are, those are some of the concerns that I still have with this bill, um, and, and that is all I have to say. Any questions? Uh,
Representative Pilkington, you recognize. Thank you. So, but if this bill passes, you can still take the MLAX, correct? Yes, sir. And if you ran a massage spa, you could still
choose to only hire people who pass the IMAX, correct? Yes, that is a choice. And then you say that our health system is stressed, so why would we and massage is an active part of it. So why would we not pass
a bill that could allow more people to get to work faster. It's not about the number of people, it's about the quality and the understanding of, of what it is to be a massage therapist. Not everybody who wants to be a massage therapist will be successful as a massage therapist. And so, uh, well,
yes, we do want to increase that number, we want people, particularly from my perspective of being on the more medical end of things. We want people who are capable of meeting the national. exams so I can walk into a physical therapist and say, hi, please refer your please refer your patients to me for care. Sure. So you're saying you want more licensure on
Speaker 247
1:10:29
massage therapy. I think the licensure that we have, we have
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:10:32
now is sufficient. But not, you would not like to see
a reduction in any sort of licensure requirements. No.
OK. And then I think to your question, you asked about maintenance, I think the health department and the board would maintain that, but you asked that question and there's no one to answer it, so I just thought I'd answer for it. I'm done. Thank you. So no further questions. Thank you for your testimony. Thank you for
your time. Is there a Jamie Moody in the room? Yes, ma'am. If you would introduce yourself
for the record and you are recognized to speak against
Jamie Moody
Unverified
1:11:19
the bill. Uh, please push the button. My name is Jamie Moody. I'm a licensed massage therapist and a massage therapy school teacher in the state of Arkansas. I live in Conway. Um, I'm opposed to this bill creating a test state test. First, I believe that the um. It takes a significant amount of time and resources to create a test of this nature, and we have
one already in the state of Arkansas, um. Which is the inblex 44 states and 3 territories require the inblex to be passed to receive a license in those states. Arkansas is one of them. And additional test seems redundant and repetitive. Um, proponents of this bill state the shortage of massage therapists, y'all. Mentioned that. There's a bill, House Bill 1217, that's being heard currently.
That creates an massage interstate compact, that would increase the number of therapists available to Arkansas through the being able to transfer between states, so other states that have licensed therapists could cross into Arkansas and work, so that would increase the numbers. Um, creating a secondary test, I don't think will increase the number of massage therapists in the state of Arkansas, um. We have schools that are closing due to lack of students, and we have schools that do not have, we're not, they're not packed
with students. So if there's not A significant number of people in the schools having an additional test will not create more massage therapists in the state. We need more students in the classrooms. And then my other question relates to the fiscal impacts to the state. I have, I still don't understand how it can be free. To us, has there been a fiscal impact statement? Written on this Bill, I haven't read anything.
It, it, we just keep being told that it won't cost anything, but maintenance and things like that seem to cost to me, so I'm, I'm still curious about that. I appreciate your time. This test, if the test was created with high rigorous standards by a competent group, then it would probably be OK, however, there's no funding to back the test. This House Bill 1217 will help alleviate the perceived shortage of therapists. And ask you to vote against how?
Speaker 254
1:13:49
SB 16. Any questions from committee? Representative Richmond,
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
1:13:55
you recognize. Thank you, thank you, ma'am for your testimony. Do you think that if this bill passes, it would lead to less qualified massage therapists practicing
Speaker 255
1:14:06
in the state. I think that 80% of our it it seems to be told that we're not
Jamie Moody
Unverified
1:14:11
qualified to pass this test by having the 500 hours required in the state of Arkansas currently, but an 80% pass rate on a national standardized exam says
that we are capable of doing that. So why would we recreate the wheel. I did, I I I see no reason to create a second test that's going to cost the state, it's going to cost. There is money involved somewhere. Someone's gonna pay for it. We only, we did, the question was asked, and as to how many people took the test last year in the state of Arkansas, 118. 118 people took the inblex last year.
And if you're charging $100 per, that's less than $11,000 that will come in based on this. See no further questions.
Thank you for your testimony. I have no one else signed up to speak for or against the bill, or anyone in the audience? OK. You're welcome to. Come to the table and introduce yourself for the record and Speak, I'm guessing against the bill? Yes, sir. OK. Good morning.
Speaker 258
1:15:15
I'm Emily Harris. I've been a homeowner in Arkansas for 40 years and a
licensed massage therapist for 2. I'm here to express my own opposition to this bill and also the opposition of many of my colleagues that I've had a discussion with that are also opposed to this. All of us that are currently licensed that have somehow managed to pass the test with just the 5 500 hours that were required, are concerned about the undue and unnecessary replication. We currently rely heavily upon the Arkansas Department of
Health for regulation of our profession to place the responsibility on the department to not only create but maintain and document another unnecessary level of bureaucratic intervention in the profession is a burden not only on the health department, but also the Arkansas taxpayers.
Speaker 243
1:16:18
I'm also concerned the topic of human trafficking was briefly
Speaker 258
1:16:25
addressed, but I think we all know too well that massage therapy has historically been a vehicle for criminal human trafficking. Anything to Muddy the waters provide additional loopholes, although we were assured that that would not happen. We know that just recently there was a widespread net that was able to pick up multiple occurrences. The
national standardization examination, and a single licensure for the state that also is portable for other therapists from other states to come practice here or for us to go practice there increases the level of professionalism among massage therapists. Currently, the majority of healthcare professions rely on national standardized testing. The majority of our educational
institutions rely heavily on national standardized testing. This is not too hard of a test. This is an appropriate test MEx is and to layer a second. is unnecessary level of bureaucracy. Thank you. Do you have any questions for me? Seeing no, thank you for testimony. I, I request that you please vote in opposition to this bill. Anyone else in the audience speak for or against?
Mr. Cummins, if you would introduce yourself for the record and you recognize I'm guessing
Speaker 259
1:18:03
to speak against the bill. That's correct, Mr. Chairman. Actually, I represent the Federation of State Massage Board Therapists, uh, the only reason I, I, I did not sign up. Miss Patty Glenn, who Miss Eckert attributed several statements to her in her testimony. I don't know if Ms. Ecker knows this, but Miss Glenn is drove down from Kansas City this morning, and she just concluded her testimony in the Senate on the compact bill that this committee passed last week,
uh unfortunately, I, I think several of the statements she attributed to Miss Glenn are untrue, and Miss Glenn is an expert on the education piece of the national exam in the entire history of it. I'm not asking you to wait if, if you're ready to vote, but if there's any member that is concerned about any of the comments, Ms. Eckert made, uh, especially those attributed to things that somebody told her about trick questions and uh I think uh there's an expert in the building that we can get down here pretty quickly because I just was monitoring that
hearing and, and it's concluded, uh, and so she is available, but I'm not, I'm not necessarily asking Mr. Chairman, that you delay any further unless any member would like to hear testimony from her. I can get her here pretty quickly. Thank you Thank you for your testimony.
uh, Representative Brown, you recognized the clothes for your bill and before
you close, I think there's some questions from the committee.
Only representative Brown will be allowed to close and answer these questions. Representative Bennet, you recognize. Yes,
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
1:19:38
thank you, Mr. Chair. Um, one of the, um, witnesses, uh, asked about the cost, would there be a cost? Associated with this. I have
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:19:49
spoken with the health department and um and I believe um.
Mr. Gilmore just said it would be about $100. I had heard $75 previously, so yes, there will
be a cost associated with taking the test. Thank
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
1:20:11
you. Before she closes. Is represented long, you recognize, um, I think I understood them to say that that $100 would be paid by the tests applicant, I guess. Yes. OK. Thank you, sir, ma'am. Thank you, sir. Representative Brown, you recognize the clothes for
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
1:20:25
your bill. I want to thank the committee for for listening to this presentation, um, it was simply brought to provide an
option for the massage therapist here in the state of Arkansas. I think massage therapy is a fantastic profession. And um And no disregard for anybody who's currently a massage therapist, um, the bill is strictly to allow for an option for massage therapists who are not interested in uh mobility of their license and certainly with the um if we do um have a compact that compact will
require the MLEX test, so, um. I really have nothing more to offer on this. I really appreciate your questions and um. It's just simply to offer massage therapist another option here in Arkansas and nothing sinister or anything is intended here. I'm strictly responding to a request of some of the massage therapists and Senator Rice has
supported this on the Senate side, and it's a believer in it and so I would just ask for a good vote. Thank you.
What's a pleasure of the committee. I got a motion to pass. That's as amended, correct? Um, in discussion on the motion? Represent Pilkington you
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
1:21:55
recognize. Thanks. Uh, thank you, Chairman. Thank you, Representative Brown for bringing this to the committee. You know, I think what's really interesting is, um, we talk all the time about wanting to get more people to work, and want to
make it easier to work. And to me, this is a good pro work bill, uh, you know, I helped Representative Nazarenko with the compact bill. I've been talking to him since last fall about it, which uses the IMAX, and I made the questions to the uh to one of the people who testified that you can still take the IMAX. You can choose to only hire people from. plaques. We're just giving you an option and much like the state next to us, Texas, they offer a state tests for massage therapy too, so I think it's a perfectly normal thing, you know, I understand massage can can be very helpful in the health care space, but let's
remember too, it's massage. You're not going to OD off a massage. It's, it's going to be OK. Um, but I think too, I just, I get real frustrated when we have all these massage therapy bills because they always bring up the human trafficking aspect of it, which is it's terrible, but at the same time, currently the only thing's getting offered is the MLAX. So if human traf is concerned right now. I don't see how a state test is going to change it. Maybe the issue is the implax, but the other thing is ultimately is, you know, you've got one group that can buy out competitors that can pay a lobbyist to come down here and
to get other massage therapists riled up and upset about this, and you've got one side that's just local people here trying to give a pathway for our Kansas. Now they say that 80% pass rate, but yet they won't share their data. I always have issues whether it's a PBM, whether it's a insurance payer or anyone else when they won't show their data, it makes me think they're lying, uh, especially if you're the only game in town that does this kind of tests. So, you know, with that, I just, I, I get real frustrated on this bill because I think a lot of things have been kind of trying to suit had
been tried to stir the dirt or whatever you wanna call it. Um, but I just, I think it's a good bill and ultimately at the end of the day, I want to get more Arkansans working and if this gets more Arkansans working. I'm for it. Like I said, it doesn't take away the implax. Anyone can take the IMAX and if you want to do the impla, do the compact, go do it, but But I just think we should give our candidates an option, and I know a lot of, a lot of low income people try to get massage therapy licensing because they know it's a pathway to make more money and, and I don't want to try to see a test that's been, you know, manufactured out of state that they try to rank it up, make it crank it up, make it
harder and harder so that they can pay more money and try to squeeze these low income individuals when we've got a state test here in Arkansas that meets our requirement, that meets our needs and actually meets the original intent of the massage therapy Act. So for that I'm going to be a yes on this, and I hope my colleagues will. Follow me and be a
yes on this good bill just like the Senate did.
Thank you, Representative Pilton any, any other discussion? Seeing none all those in favor, say ah. I posed. I'm gonna rule the nose have it be it's failed.
So members, if you clean up things real quick while we have everybody sitting here, uh, physical impact bills, the information has flowed to Siegel, who is conducting our impact statements, and we should start seeing some of those bills back as early as next week. So if you have bills on the physical impact list, uh, follow up with staff of the committee to make sure that your bill has a physical impact back and we can start putting
those on the calendar, uh, as early as next Tuesday. So seeing no other business, we stand adjourn.
Agenda
REGULAR AGENDA
HB1185 L. Johnson TO ADOPT THE DIETITIAN LICENSURE COMPACT IN ARKANSAS.
HB1244 K. Brown TO AMEND THE REQUIREMENTS TO OBTAIN A CERTIFICATE OF FULL INDEPENDENT PRACTICE AUTHORITY BY A CERTIFIED NURSE PRACTITIONER OR CLINICAL NURSE SPECIALIST.
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.
SB168 Rice TO ESTABLISH A STATE EXAMINATION FOR LICENSURE OF MASSAGE THERAPISTS; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
HB1468 Cozart TO AMEND ARKANSAS LAW CONCERNING CLAIMS AGAINST CONTRACTORS AND SUPPLIERS TO REMEDY CONSTRUCTION DEFECTS.
HB1506 Andrews TO AMEND THE LAW CONCERNING PUBLIC OFFICERS AND EMPLOYEES; AND TO PROHIBIT A PUBLIC EMPLOYER FROM DEDUCTING LABOR ORGANIZATION MEMBERSHIP DUES FROM THE COMPENSATION OF A PUBLIC EMPLOYEE.
HB1530 Achor TO AMEND THE DEFINITION OF "SPECIALTY HOSPITAL" RELATING TO THE ASSESSMENT FEE ON HOSPITALS UNDER THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM.
HB1532 L. Johnson TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS RARE DISEASE ADVISORY COUNCIL.
HB1543 Underwood TO ESTABLISH THE WORKFORCE EXPERIENCE OPPORTUNITIES ACT OF 2025.
HB1554 A. Brown TO CREATE THE ASSISTED REPRODUCTIVE TECHNOLOGY REPORTING ACT.
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.
HB1576 Lundstrum TO PROHIBIT A SOLID WASTE LANDFILL TO BE PLACED OVER A KARST TOPOGRAPHY.
HB1582 McAlindon TO REQUIRE AN INDIVIDUAL TO TAKE CERTAIN ACTIONS TO BE ELIGIBLE FOR BENEFITS UNDER THE DIVISION OF WORKFORCE SERVICES LAW.
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.
HB1592 J. Mayberry TO CREATE THE ARKANSAS ALZHEIMER'S AND DEMENTIA PUBLIC HEALTH ACT.
HB1610 Lundstrum TO AMEND THE ARKANSAS HUMAN LIFE PROTECTION ACT AND THE ARKANSAS UNBORN CHILD PROTECTION ACT.
SB257 C. Penzo TO AMEND THE MEDICAID FAIRNESS ACT; TO EXTEND THE APPEAL PERIOD FOR PROVIDERS IN THE ARKANSAS MEDICAID PROGRAM; AND TO REQUIRE COMPREHENSIVE INFORMATION IN NOTICES OF ADVERSE DECISIONS.
SB111 K. Hammer TO ESTABLISH THE DENTIST AND DENTAL HYGIENIST COMPACT.
SB222 B. Davis TO AMEND THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; TO CLARIFY MARKETING BY PROVIDERS UNDER THE MEDICAID PROVIDER-LED ORGANIZED CARE ACT; AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY.
SB265 Irvin TO REDUCE AND MODIFY THE MEMBERSHIP OF THE LICENSING COMMITTEE RELATING TO WASTEWATER AND THE LICENSING COMMITTEE RELATING TO SOLID WASTE; AND TO AMEND THE APPRENTICESHIP LICENSES IN SOLID WASTE LICENSING.
Documents
| Title | Type | Pages | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agenda — PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE, Mar 4, 2025 | Agenda | 4 | Official source ↗ |
Speakers
Representative Jeremy Wooldridge Chair
Unverified
Representative Robin Lundstrum
Unverified
Representative Aaron Pilkington
Unverified
Representative R. Scott Richardson
Unverified
Speaker 40
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Speaker 59
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Representative Lee Johnson
Unverified
Speaker 74
Speaker 77
Speaker 94
Speaker 95
Speaker 101
Representative Matt Brown
Unverified
Speaker 109
Speaker 113
Representative Richard McGrew
Unverified
Speaker 118
Speaker 119
Speaker 124
Speaker 144
Speaker 150
Speaker 145
Speaker 153
Representative Ryan A. Rose
Unverified
Speaker 158
Speaker 148
Matt Gilmore
Unverified
Speaker 182
Speaker 184
Speaker 187
Speaker 188
Representative Wayne Long
Unverified
Representative Denise Jones Ennett
Unverified
Representative Kenneth B. Ferguson
Unverified
Representative Mark Perry
Unverified
Speaker 143
Speaker 142
Speaker 227
Representative Jeff Wardlaw Chair
Unverified
Mariah Pike
Unverified
Speaker 247
Jamie Moody
Unverified
Speaker 254
Speaker 255
Speaker 258
Speaker 243
Speaker 259