ALC - Administrative Rules
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- October 2, 2026
Speaker 35
1:03
ladies and gentlemen emb ers of you will start taking your seat we're gonna get this meeting started members I call to order the
Arkansas administrative rules subcommittee to order for those
in the audience, for those who want to comment on any rules. there's a sign up sheet available and we'll be picking that up shortly. and please specify which rule you're going to be commenting on Members go ahead and sign in to your station if you already haven't done so. also want to
note that in addition to the rules already stricken through on your agendas we will be passing over item E11E the maternal healthal providers and remote monitoring rules as they've been pulled by the agency. right we're going to move on to B we have a report from the executive subcommittee concerning emergency rules we have a report from the executive subcommittee concerning emergency rules that report is in the packet
if there are no questions regarding that that file that report will be filed seeing no questions file the report item C is reports from ALC subcommittees concerning the review of rules they are also in our packet are there any there are there any questions regarding that report
seeing none file the report, please. Item C is no excuse me item d reports on administrative directives pursuant to Act 1258 of1220fi5 for the quarter ending March31st 2026 those reports are also on our packet if there
are no questions seeing none that file that report
I to me as the rules filed by the various agencies we'll begin with E1 department of agg. if you will introduce yourself for
the record you will be recognized to explain your rule.
Matthew Ford
Unverified
4:52
good morning my name is Matthew Ford chief legal counsel for
Speaker 19
4:57
the Arkansas department of agriculture. Good morning. I'm Andrew Fidler. I'm the state
Speaker 20
5:09
veterinarian from the Arkansas department of
Matthew Ford
Unverified
5:12
agriculture. good morning. The first rule we have on the agenda today is the repeal of criteria for persons engaged in the voluntary abetting of identification chips for equine monitoring essentially these rules allow
the department to regulate the issuance of ID chips and equine the statute Act703 of2025 repealed the statute that authorized those rules and so in effect we've also repealed those rules so that's why we're here today on the equine roll members do we have any questions Seeing none without objection
Speaker 20
5:57
this rule will be reviewed and approved the next rule
Matthew Ford
Unverified
6:16
has to do with financial assistance so bringing inrisolasher director of our natural resources division and debbie Dickon from the department of agriculture if
Chair
Unverified
6:22
they will introduce stem cells so you'll be recognized to proceed
Speaker 27
6:30
Good morning membersri calllazure, director of the naturaltural Resources division at the Arkansas department of agriculture.
Speaker 29
6:37
and I'm Debbie Dixon. I work a manage the water development section at the Arkansas department of
Speaker 27
6:45
agriculture. right so we're here today to present our finance rules and so what we did as part of this amendments to these rules is did some general cleanup this was a relatively old rule that needed to be updated to reflect transformation and just some
streamlining of of processes we also added the new water and sewer treatment facilities grant that was created through Act812 in the last session and then we also repealed the clean water and drinking water state revolving fun rules and incorporated those into this rule so a lot of general cleanup new program and and repeal of two rules and in combining of some rules happy to take any questions members any questions
Speaker 35
7:34
seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. thank you very much good
Matthew Ford
Unverified
7:38
morning. Our next rule has to do with the estause ofaput bringing up cor sees the director of our plant industries division. please introduce yourself yes sir corey seats Arkansas department
Speaker 38
7:55
of agriculture we recognize to proceed thank you sir the department proposes to amend
the Arkansas rules on esticide use which is codified at two code of Arkansas rulesart70 to create a new classification of pesticide called classs J to include all pesticides containing warfarin when used as a feral hog toxicant this proposed rule amendment sets forth the requirements for dealers, applicators training and record keeping related to the sale and use oflass J pesticides. Members any questions
Speaker 35
8:44
seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank youir. Moving on to E4, Department
of Commerce. please introduce yourself for the record my name is amanda Gibson from
Amanda Gibson
Unverified
9:14
the Arkansassurance department. You recognized to explain the rule. Good morning members of the committee the department proposes amendments to 23 code of Arkansasart 203, Arkansas workers compensationsurancelan. the insurance commissioner is charged with administering the workers' comp insurance plan. This plan finds coverage for those employers who are required to have workers' comp coverage but cannot find that coverage on their own or through an agent. The plan guarantees that these employers will have coverage.
the insurance code authorizes the commissioner to appoint a plan administrator. The National Council on Compensation Insurance or the NCCI has been the plan administrator since the plan was established over30 years ago. The NCCI is a licensed advisory organization which files its rating rules with the insurance department. Those rating rules must be followed by the carriers who participate in the plan. The provisions in those
rating rules are also contained in the agency rule promulgated by the department and that is the rule before you today. because those provisions in the agencyr are duplicative of the provisions in the writing rules that are filed by the NCCI with the department. The department proposes that the duplicative provisions be removed from the department Members any questions All right, seeing none without
Speaker 35
10:49
objection this bu bill is reviewed and approved. Thank you. E7
Department of no I'm sorry E5 department of corrections please introduce yourself for the record Wadehodges chief of staff department of Corrections
Speaker 51
11:19
you recognized to explain the rule thank you Mr Chairman. the board oforrections had a rule that covered visitation for their facilities and you may recall there was some recent legislation that placed our community correction centers under the division of correction and so the board rule didn't cover visitation for the community correction centers so we're repealing the old board rule and we're now presenting one unified visitation rule
Speaker 35
11:49
which has been promulgated by the secretary all right
Chair
Unverified
12:00
members any questions all right seeing none I'm sorry Representative ladyman you're
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
12:05
recognized for a question. Thank you Mr Chairman. this this may not be pertinent to your rule here but I had a question about visitations
I've been told that during the pandemic at least that some
of our prisons the visitation hours were reduced from like4 hours to 2 hours on weekends and that was during the COVID and these people tell me that that has not been reversed afterOId do you know
anything about that? believe that has been reversed but
Speaker 51
12:34
I don't know for sure but I can get you that information I'll provide that to staff the one in Newport is the one
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
12:41
that I was asked about and they said it had not been reversed. OK I'll check on that for you thank you very much
Speaker 35
12:55
any other questions members all right seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed
and approved. E7 department of humanorervices Please introduce yourself for the record
and you'll be recognized to explain the rule.
Speaker 63
13:34
Good morning. Paula Stone, Arkansas Department of Human Services officefice of Substance abuse and ental Health. this role is in compliance with actt301 of2025 which amended the Medicaid provider led organization act which is the act that governs the passes to clarify marketing by direct service providers it sought to ensure that potential and actual enrollees of the past program have the right to know that a direct service provider and that's not the passes that's the
provider who's providing the medicaid reimburse services if they are in network with a particular past the consequences of choosing a network, with a pass and that the drug services provider is not participating as a network direct service provider. so we're issuing these marketing rules to comply with that act. thank you any questions member
Speaker 66
14:35
seeing none without objection this bill this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you. E8 it's alsodHS Please introduce yourself for the record. Good morning. I'm
Speaker 68
15:01
Amber Sarag, assistant director of policylicractice and training
Speaker 69
15:05
with the division of Children and Family Services. and good morning. I'm Tiffanie Wright, the DCfS director. so the rule that you have before you today is a comprehensive revision of the DCfS policy manual. the purpose of the revision is to ensure that our policies reflect the current law practice and administrative requirements. The rule incorporates legislative changes enacted by the general assembly. it aligns policy with our federal requirements and current child welfare practices updates
terminology and references throughout the entirety of the manual and improves consistency and clarity across those policy sections the revision also rev reorganizes the manual by separating our internal operational procedures from the administrative rule consistent with the governor's executive order on reducing promulgation while still maintaining all the policy requirements and legal standards and other substantive requirements within the rule
itself. Um, in addition we have removed outdated duplicative and obsolete provisions and the manual has been updated to align with the code of Arkansas rules formatting standards. Overall this roll package is intended to ensure that our policy is current that is accurate and that it's consistent while providing clear guidance that supports children and families and the staff that are responsible for serving them and thank you for your time and I'm happy
Speaker 75
16:34
to take any questions any questions members
Speaker 35
16:42
all right seeing none without objection this rule
is reviewed and approved Moving on to E9 DHS division of Ott County please
Chair
Unverified
17:01
introduce yourself for the record and you're recognized to explain your rules. Good morning.
Speaker 78
17:09
I'm Mary Franklin, director of the division of county operations
Chair
Unverified
17:19
adds the definition of and the allowance for fictive kin as an eligible relationship so that children who are in fictive fictive kin placements through DCfs may qualify for our kids medicaid. the second part of this rule is to comply with Act875 of2025 related to Ac accounts and what
it does is rage the age from 26 to46 as far as the onset of disability anyone who has disability onset up to the age of46 is eligible to apply for and have an able account and that is the content of this
Speaker 35
18:05
rule any questions all right seeing none without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
Chair
Unverified
18:13
The second rule I have for you is related to presumptive eligibility for pregnant women
Cms requested that we make some changes to fully align with federal regulations regarding presumptive eligibility for pregnant women so the changes we have made are to clarify that the temporary coverage for presumptive eligibility for pregnancy begins on the day that determination is made not the first day of the month of application but the day the determination is made and also that the end date occurs when the full determination is made on the the
regular application for full coverage during the
Speaker 35
18:58
pregnancy be happy to take any seeing no questions without objection this rule is
Chair
Unverified
19:07
third rule I have for you is a follow up permanent rule to a previously approved rule through emergency promulgation and this rule involves changes to the snap certification manual, the transitionalmployment Assistance manual and theorkpays manual. the changes involve
work requirements in the snap manual changes to the work requirement to clarify the individuals aged60 to64 years of age must comply with the able bodied adult without dependent requirement to work unless they meet an exemption other than age the exemption for general work requirements were also updated for compliance clarification was inserted to state that verification must be provided if a disability is not obvious or if it's questionable and terminology
regarding general work requirement and disability was updated throughout the sections and sanction information updated as needed this policy also implemented the mandatory employment and training in the SnA program and details those who are subject to the general work requirement who do not meet an exemption will now be required in a mandatory participant in employment and training and if they do not comply or do not
agree to the referral they they will be sanctioned from Snap we also removed uhorkfare as out of date terminology that section was removed. This rule also involved alien changes to alien eligibility to comply with the federal HR One Act and those changes include that those who are eligible for citizenship include those
who are lawful permanent residents who are Cuban and Haitian immigrants who are compact of free association residents and the other ineligible US nationalsitizens US nationals lawful permanent residents, Cuban and Haitian entrants and compactor free association citizens are the only eligible individuals for snap. two minor changes that we made
in the snap program in this rule include moving the standard medical deduction amount to appendix because this amount can change by a very small amount annually. so we have moved that to appendix and we have also moved the SNap benefit issuance schedule which currently starts the fourth of the month and goes through the 13th of the month and we are planning to change those days spread them out just a little bit more through the month and so we have moved that to appendix
changes in the team annual were made to comply with Act640 of2025 and this is where we have added the requirement for a tea or workpays applicant who is determined job ready to be required to complete some job search activities before the application is processed. and with that I'll happy to take any questions Representativeladyman you're
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
22:28
recognized for a question. you Mr Chairman. Mary thank you for
being here and and presenting this. I just how how how how are we
going to verify compliance with the work if they come in they qualify, they're working or they're checking on that. I don't how are we going to verify that and make sure that they're executing what they're telling you they're executing this may not cover that but I'm a little concerned how we how we're gonna
Chair
Unverified
23:00
do that how we verify individuals are cooperating with their mandatory
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
23:05
snap employment is there an audit or are you gonna call the employer
Chair
Unverified
23:10
or what what how does it work? Well, I can just in general at application and at recertification we verify income so we verify income with the employer or through a data a data service if we have information available through a data service to verify that information and the compliance with the snap mandatorymployment and training we we do that in partnership with provide r s so we communicate regularly
with those providers and the providers let us know if someone is not performing the activities in their employment plan as they
Speaker 35
23:49
should thank you OK seeing no other questions without objection this rule is reviewed
Speaker 79
23:57
and approved. moving on to E10 E10 is a rule related to eligibility for certain incarcerated individuals this
Chair
Unverified
24:06
rule is necessary to comply with provisions in the federal consolidated appropriations Act of 2023 and the act requires states to provide certain coverage for eligible incarcerated youth and the coverage includes care coordination services, targeted case management services including referrals to care and services available in the geographic region of the juvenile's residents and the eligible juveniles that are impacted by this rule our individuals
between the ages of 18 and26 and are eligible if they're 18 and26 and are eligible under the former foster care group along with individuals that are ages 19 and20 and are eligible for any healthcare program including medicaid or CIP have been fully adjudicated which means officially sentenced the length of this coverage is during the 30 dayy period before release in the 30 dayy period after release and other updates related to this rule included grammar corrections
and with that I'll be happy to
Speaker 35
25:13
take OK seeing no questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you Moving on to E11 members
as I mentioned beginning of the meeting besides the one the rules that are crossed through and in our packet we
rule 11e has been pulled at the request of the agency.
Chair
Unverified
25:40
please introduce yourself for the record and you recognize
explain your rules and members
were starting on 11B. good morning Elizabeth pitman division of medicalical Services. the first role I have today is the rule concerning adverse decisions this rule is pursuant to several acts passed in 2025 including Acts515,6:35 and772. it does several things including adding corrective action plans as an adverse
decision that can be appealed. It also extends the time frame to appeal from 35 to65 days and it also requires us to put all policies and procedures related to prior authorizations on a website which we are currently updating right now. this has been approved by Cms and I believe there is a small fiscal impact yes of about500,000 dollars and
with that happy to take any questions Representative Paehner you're recognized for a question. Thank you Mr Chair. you said you're updating that right now do we have a timeline
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
26:55
when that update may be completed? Should be any day
Speaker 61
27:00
now ok great thank you all right so you no other questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved.
Chair
Unverified
27:07
see the next roll I have for you today is the increase to the RSv administration fee for children
we currently provide the RSV administration and vaccination to Medicaid eligible children. The vaccination is provided and paid for by the vaccines for childrenldrengrame. however, providers do bill Medicaid for the administration of the of that vaccine pursuant to Act634, we have increased that administration rate to match the vaccines for children, right? There is a small fiscal impact to this as well. I believe it's46,000 dollars about about that per year. it's very small.ddition ally thecms has approved this spa and happy to take any questions.
Speaker 35
27:50
so no questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
Chair
Unverified
27:57
d ruled is another rule that was passed pursuant to 2025 legislation Act5856 Act56 expanded the emergency treatat triage and Transport Act for ambulance services and allow them to provide onsite medical care without calling a physician or behavioral health practitioner if there are guidelines in place by their medical director for them to do so.
we do not anticipate this to have any fiscal impact nor did this
Speaker 101
28:24
have a spa that needed to be submitted to Cms as they had already approved this service. so
Speaker 35
28:33
happy to take any questions I remember seeing no questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved yes
Chair
Unverified
28:43
sir rule F is the rule to allow for reimbursement of physical and occupational therapy in a clinicbas setting. This again was pursuant to an
act in 2025 Act 103. under this rule, we are expanding our coverage of physical and occupational therapy services to allow for them to provide those services in a clinic previously for adults receiving rehabilitative therapy. they were not allowed to receive those outside of a a hospital inpatient outpatient setting or a rehabilitative hospital. this allows them to go to a physical therapy clinic to receive those services thus increasing access because we're paying the services at the same rate. we don't anticipate a fiscal impact to this. it's not
changing who is elig ible to receive the service or the rate we're paying so we're not anticipating a fiscal impact and again because these services were already covered we did not need to submit a spa so happy to
Speaker 35
29:37
take any questions seeing no questions without objection this rule is reviewed and approved
Speaker 101
29:43
and my last role today is pursuant to actct 1025 and it is an increase to the dental
Chair
Unverified
29:48
rates at 1025 did several things the first of which is increased
dental rates for pediatric dental services, orthodontic dental services in the services of oral surgeons, the dental services of oral surgeons. so that was part one that was submitted as a spa and approved by Cms the additional part was to increase the service limit for individuals with special needs. we did submit that to Cms however they determined that that could not be approved because it was tied to a diagnosis so we withdrew that spa and we're con ti nu ing to work through that with Cms and anticipate coming back with a solution to that soon
however with the rate increase we received several comments one of which was that we increased the orthodontic rate or with the initial rule, let me back up a minute. with the initial rule following the guidelines of the pinkook the Nationalental, I can't remember the NDAs document that we use to set the rates and the orthodontic rates actually dropped. We received several comments that that was not the intention of the law and that if you read the black letter of the law it does not include orthodontics. Reading it that way we did and determined that
we should go ahead and leave the orthodontic rates the same as they were not intended to be addressed by the law nor were they written into the law. We also received comments regarding the oral surgeon's dental services that that was not meant to apply only to dental services of oral surgeons but rather to a set of codes that all dentists and oral surgeons provide and that is not our black letter reading of the law and we can't guess at legislative intent and so we did not raise that and with that happy to take any questions
Representative Eas
Unverified
31:28
Representative Eas you're recognized for a question Thank you Mr Chairman can you back up I know it's been six months or longer when this issue came up originally and that and we couldn't re increase reimbursement rates based on a specific diagnosis can you can you go back and remind me what what that was all about.
Chair
Unverified
31:50
Yes sir so that is not related to the reimbursement rate itself that is related to the limit. so we currently have a500 dollars limit for adults and under the
Act 1025 there was an intent to raise that limit for individuals with special needs. CmS will not allow us to raise a benefit limit or give a benefit based on a diagnosis and so we've had to pull that portion back move forward only with the rates and we're continuing to work with Cms to try to put in place something to address the
Representative Les D. Eaves
Unverified
32:18
special needs population. OK so like what rates are you increasing
Chair
Unverified
32:22
all pediatric rates we are also increasing I'm sorry now I have to remembervis with special needs rates and then the
Speaker 61
32:30
dental services of oral surgeons. thank you Represent
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
32:44
Mayberry you're recognized for a question thank you very much. first of all thank you for your hard work cause I know that you
all are really trying hard to help us with the intent of the law and working with us and with with the dental association and all that so thank you very very much. I know it's hard work.
I do want to point out something because I want to make sure that legislators understand and that DHS hears that the intent of the language that we had in there and I believe it's specifically says oral and mac forgive me I'm going to mess up this word but max maxillofaciial amm I saying that right? Close enough you all know what I'm saying. surgeons dental services including anesthesia that that's the language that we're talking
about and you made reference to the the actual reading of that. So DHS is interpreting that um, that does not apply to all dentists that it just applies to the surgeon's dental surgeons and the dental association is actually the group that gave us that wording. Many of you might recall the last few days of the session we had some quick changes that was the wording that we got from the
dental association and I don't think the dental association would have given us that wording if they thought it didn't have a broader reach to include surgeries that dentists perform and they thought it would be broader based on the the codes that are out there and that's kind of a sticking point. we had a lengthy discussion. I know Missy Irvin chaired the meeting recently and maybe she'll chime in. I know
that she said she's going to try to help fix this in the next legislative session um, but we we did ask the question of you. I I asked well how much would this cost if we had the broader interpretation which I believe was the intent. I know it was my intent, I know it was the dental association intent and it's what I told legislators that they were voting for you said it was 1.5 million but then later on I sent you an email and I asked is that
state share so it's actually correct me if I'm wrong,500,000 is that is give or takeive or take yes ma'am. About500,000 to include this broader interpretation so my question is I don't want to do anything to hold up this, OK? this particular rule we we want to move things on but DHs has the ability correct to
increase that even though we didn't specifically say that even if you want to interpret it that way. would would that be correct?
Chair
Unverified
35:45
so we never try we always try to honor the intent of a statute and if a statute specifies that we do something and not do something else we're going to try to honor that intent as best we can we can raise rates without legislative statutory not without legislative approval obviously we have to come to you but without statutory authority. That said we also have to have
the funding and that's also got to be in place so I would not be able to sit here today and tell you whether or not we could do that without having all of that sort
Speaker 114
36:17
of assessed and looked at. but but that kind of
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
36:22
gives you our broad authority to raise rates. OK. I I wanted to make sure legislators understand because this will, um, if we don't fix it now, hopefully it can be fixed in the next legislative session with maybe some clearer language but keep in mind then it goes
through rules again and we're we're looking at it way off in the distance before it would actually take place and the intent was that it was to take
place now. So again thank you continue the the discussion thanks Representativeladyman you're recognized for a question thank you Mr Chairman. elizabeth, thank
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
37:01
you for bringing this today and this has been there was a lot of debates's been a long road to
get here and based on what uhpresentative Mayberry said we're not to the end of the road yet but just had a couple of quick questions. So are these new rates in effect
Speaker 92
37:19
now they will go into effect July I think it's July1st yes because we're in June. July firstt we'll start paying
Chair
Unverified
37:25
prospectively the rule itself goes back to September 1st of 2025. So once we actually start prospectively paying the rates we'll actually go back and go through what we call our mass adjustment process. so we'll go back and
readjust all the claims that have been billed since September 1st of 2025. that probably won't happen all at once because we have it takes our system a little bit of time to do all of that but
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
37:50
we'll start retroactively making those payments. OK, I saw that date in the rule so you are retroactively going back and covering that the other question is how do you how how does the agency communicate to the individual providers I know you've talked to the ental association all that but how how do they know that now they can actually be paid through Medicaid for this how do you
Chair
Unverified
38:10
communicate that to the broad community out there we have several ways and one of the main ways we do it is through what we call a remittance advice message. so once a week providers all get their remittance advice which tells them how much they'll get paid in the next week. We put we can put a message targeted to provider types on that to let them know. We do something called an official notice which goes out to providers and is posted on our website and then we also use our provider support vendor which is currently the AFMC and they actually provide dental provider support. We started that when we went back to fee for service in 2024 and so they
actually go to dental offices so they can also provide that
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
38:44
message to them all the way down to the individual dentist or all
Chair
Unverified
38:55
right thank you Represented wardlaw you're recognized for a point of personal privilege at this time So I
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
39:02
can't say anything about this issue right? thank you Mr Chair. miss pittman, I want to say first off thank you for your
work on the DME rule. thank you for pulling it down and I'm guessing you guys have had
that meeting this week appreciate all that. now onto my point of personal privilege, today we have the warren summerer camp with us today from the Warren Middle School. these guys have been tracking all over the state they've been to a farm, they've been to a pizza restaurant they've been to all kinds of places to learn about what real life is about and today's the day they figure out that they'll never figure out
what government's about but I got to walk them through our new tunnel and walk them around the capitol and I want to make sure you guys got to see them today and they got to see us at work. so if you would help me give them a warm welcome to their capital today. right, Senator Irvin
Chair
Unverified
40:08
you're recognized for a question thank you just more or less
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
40:14
statement you we did aspresentative Mayberry pointed to we did have a thorough discussion about this rule in public health and what is at question is the language that is in the law itself which says surgeons instead of surgery that's a quick fix and we can make that happen next session. I've already got it drafted. again we would need to meet with you all in the governor's office about that but I think that
was the legislative intent and the the fix is the fixx is in so to speak. I would I would say so I'm happy to carry that forward because I do think when you're looking at the intent of of trying to address the special needs population. they're not all going to be located in an area where there is an oral surgeon. and I think that was the whole idea behind it so it does make sense that General Denniss have the ability to have an increased
rate as it relates to those types of surgeries because it includes anesthesia and you have to use a level of anesthesia if you're treating those patients and so I think it's it's a it's a fix and we can move forward and so I just wanted to to add that to the conversation. thank
Chair
Unverified
41:39
you. Representativeough you're recognized for a question
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
41:41
thank you Mrir. so if the intent of the bill
is about it being surgeons is that right senator
is that what you were saying a second ago? all dentist, right ma'am? they've got it for me over here it was supposed to say surgeries I assume is what the problem is with y'all on y'all's end is it doesn't say surgeries would that be correct? The problems are a no. The
Chair
Unverified
42:15
problem we have is that it says oral
surgeons apostrophe service dental services so I don't know what it was supposed to say but yes ma'am, that's our problem.
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
42:24
OK so let me ask a question then and all the discussions prior to the legislation coming to
committee I know there had to been people from the dentist association there had everybody probably was at a table at some point in time we knew what the intent of the bill was before it even passed off of any floors. amm I correct?
Speaker 132
42:45
we did not discuss the oral surgeon's issue with the dental
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
42:50
association to my knowledge this language is there someone here from the dental association there is can I ask them to come to the table please Mr chairir they can come to the table Please introduce yourself for the record Yes thank you I'm doctor Terry Fidler with Arkansas State
Speaker 135
43:20
Dental association of a retiredri practitioner. thank you sir. I'm
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
43:24
sitting right here did y'all have discussions prior to the bill being passed
off of one or both floors where you talked about what the intent of the bill was. ma'am was DHS in the room when that was happening? ma'am thank you sir Now then my question goes back to you Miss Pitman.
I know that there's a lot of things y'all can do through rules because of mental behavioral health I understand because I've sat in a lot of meetings where a lot of things can change in rules doesn't necessarily have to have a law is there a way to change the rule to fit to what the intent of the law was as it is right
Chair
Unverified
44:16
now think that what I'm expressed inpresentative Mayberry is the answer to that question. We
always try to follow and I think this is going back to the same issue we had with the DME and the CgM bill where I think the intent of the law did not get conveyed in the wording. and unfortunately we don't have the benefit of a record where we can understand legislative intent so we can only go by the black letter language of the law. and so we were trying our best to honor that that said yes we have authority to raise rates provided we have funding and I can't sit here today without finance and and secretary mann to answer that question but but that is
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
44:53
our authority. OK. thank you ma'am. thank you sir. Senator Irvin, you recognize it was just in response to Representative Vottt's questions. Ultimately it's the sponsor's bill and the sponsors are the ones responsible for the language that's in the bill. so
it's not DHS's responsibility to edit all of our bills. Sorry, it's just not. And so you know, I I honestly think it was a mishap. it was a wrong word that was used and here we are today but it is important that we understand we want our state agencies to follow the letters of our laws that we pass but then you know we get upset if they if they don't or and I just I just want to make sure
that we understand clearly what the law states and it's clearly stated that it's a surgeon's rate and I know that there's some discrepancy and to further that point in public health there is no exact definition in state law of what an oral and maxial facial surgeon constitutes or is there's no definition of that so that also further complicates it because there's nothing to go back to for DHS to point back to. so that's another part of it which never probably would have
been anticipated by sponsors of a bill to go and see if there was a definition of what that surgeon is in state law and so I think it's just honestly it was just a mishap that happened but here we are today where the rules have to follow the language black and white language of the laws that we were passing. So I I think in the end of the day, you know there was probably a better and clearer way may perhaps to write this to where this didn't happen but
it was very at the end of session and I knowpresentative Mayberrry and Senator Penzo were working really really hard on this. I mean we even called a special public health committee meeting and the Senate just for this one bill in order to get that amendment changed because of the fiscal impact issues that it had so I just really think that that's what happened and I just want to make sure that we state that I cast no responsibility on anybody. it's just here we are today and I think at the end of
the day we can fix it, we will fix it. I give that assurances for sure so anyway, I just I just want to make sure we're we're clear about that and I wanted to state that clearly so that nobody gets mad at one person or any one agency or the sponsors or anything like that or the legislature it's just we have to follow the language of the law. this is what the law says. this is why the rule says what it says we can change it and move forward that's the beauty and of of our nature of government. Thank you Mr Chair for the latitude.
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
48:01
Representative Mayberry recognized for a question you doctorctor Fiedler, can you help explain to everybody first of all the language that we used was given by the dental association was given to me by by y'all based on what can you tell me where that language comes from because it comes from the the coats and dentists out there believe that that wording covers them
Speaker 143
48:33
can you help expand on that I will expand as concerning what a
Speaker 145
48:43
dentist would say I was one of those people who delivered services oral surgery services and I'm not an oral surgeon I did a quiet of the number of oral surgery procedures that was the intent
that in our s and as far as the Arkansas state Dental associations is concerned for our membership that those individuals especially in rural settings that they would be able to be provided an increase in fees for their oral surgery services knowing that they were not an oral surgeon and so it is it was the intent to reward the services rather than the position of degree if you will and an additional degree
and for those individuals who are representative in here for senators and representatives who are from rural areas for for I'm I'm also the Arkansas director of the Arkansas Mission of Mercy and so I deal with a lot of those and we do oral surgery every day and so that was our intent to reward and increase for the services rather than for the individual
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
50:04
so Miss Pittman, if you don't
mind me asking if this is approved the way it is today and realizing that waiting until 2027 which I'm very thankful Senator Irvin is willing to do and get this cleared up and I think it will legislators will will pass this. I mean I I I I won't be here but I I think but you never know because there's so many variables that are out there but that also is going to take a lot of time you got to get get it
through a session OK then you you gotta wait then look this was passed in March, April or so of 2025 and here we are a year in many months later still kind of talking about it so is there not a faster track is is there still an ability to go through rules and add this one thing in there and if so how is that done because I don't know how that's done
Chair
Unverified
51:14
so again I can't tell you right now if if we can do this because every rule we do, I I have to have Secretary mann's approval and we have to have the governor's office approval and so sitting here today I obviously don't have those approvals. if we get those then I I don't, I would have to determine if this needed to go back to Cms that was a large part of why this one took so long because we went back and forth with Cms for quite a while and so if that doesn't have to happen it's a much faster process because then we're just relying on the state but it would go back out for 30 dayy public comment and back through public health in in this body
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
51:46
OK so but that would I believe still be a quicker route than waiting for the next legislative session. so and the money is going to have to come up no matter what so anyway thank you for the comments. thank you for the work and I hope we can find a a a resolution to this. I apologize it was my bill. I was the house sponsor, but I knew what the intent was. I knew it was coming from the people who
knew the language. this is what they do every day and they had no doubt that this wouldn't apply to all dentists for this procedure. So in other words someone extra c ting a tooth if they're the oral surgeon they will be paid a higher rate than the dentist extracting the same tooth from the same child is that is that correct Doctor Fiedler? Is that what we're looking at? that is my understanding
Speaker 145
52:52
if I may 1 thing there are many many procedures that a general dentist does not attempt to do an oral surgeon does perform however there are litany and a of list of procedures that we as general Dennis do it in the end result is that we removed the same tooth that an oral surgeon does in the same place and
at this my understanding is is that the fees as of hopefully a after the end of this the fees will increase for the oral surgeons for doing that procedure that will not increase for the general dentist for doing
Speaker 136
53:36
that same procedure thank you thank you chair. Represented bentley you're recognized for a question you chairman
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
53:54
so I know that in my district talking to my dentist we're gonna lose some dentists taking care of kids they
just can't afford to do it anymore. that was the whole reason we went through this whole litany of things because we care about our kids in in rural Arkansas and I care about them getting taken care of. Can you explain to me Miss Pittman, why the fiscal impact was what it was if we were only talking about oral surgeons and we weren't talking about dentists across the state performing these procedures in committee when we were discussing the bill and we're getting our fiscal impact it included dentists across the state. It included surgeons so explain
that to me on why that was the case if we weren't talking about surgery being done by gentle general dentists
Chair
Unverified
54:32
across the state. So there are three categories of rates that are increasing. The first one of those is all pediatric dental services. so dentists that are performing services on children whether they be these codes or other codes willll will receive that rate increase. Special needs services for adults and oral surgeons dental services for adults. Those were the three categories that were increased based on the language of the law. and that's why the fiscal impact
is what it is because the majority of dental services that we provide are to
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
55:04
children. and those rates all will go up So when we were sitting in committee in the fiscal impact that we received went along with the rules you're doing now or you're saying it did not include gen dentists
Chair
Unverified
55:16
being paid for surgery to pediatric patients dental services to all pediatric patients whatever those dental codes are so that would include the services that that the oral surgeons are providing that separate category is only for
adults and so that fiscal impact did include those services. it does not include the oral surgeon services for adults. The dentals provided by dentists thank you Representative Eve
she recognized for a question. Thank you.
Representative Les D. Eaves
Unverified
55:49
I just kind of wanted to walk through this this committee has the ability to to
Representative Eas
Unverified
55:55
reject a rule that doesn't comply with legislative intent I think
mostly this one does comply with legislative intent there may be an argument to be made that not entirely but I think if we go down the road of rejecting that you're at another what34 months before we can get back here with another rule alternatively we can go into session 2027 senator Irvin has indicated she would be I think I don't want to put words in her mouth interested in fixing the language of the bill it could have an emergency clause you could pass an emergency rule that would last 120 days would that give you enough
time in that 120 day period to get the permanent rule to us and and I guess through CmS is really the question
Chair
Unverified
56:37
as long as we don't have to go through Cms I would not see a problem with that if we do we would want to make sure
Representative Eas
Unverified
56:44
we lined that all up with Cms before in in the case I just described of us changing fixing the bill in session you with an emergency clause you passing or creating an emergency rule would you have to go to Cms? I don't know
Chair
Unverified
56:56
that sitting right here I can answer that for you once I'm able to do a full analysis of
what our state plan says ok thank you Any other any other questions th ing else from
the witnesses right without objection the rule is reviewed and approved
Members we're going to move to item 12 Department of Human Services
you'll have a seat and introduce yourself and you can
Chair
Unverified
57:56
present the rule. morning, Martina Smith director for the division of provider services and quality assurance at DHS I am before you this
morning regarding changes to the rules for our nurse aid training program these changes are as a result of actct 105 which was passed during the regular session of 2025 those changes are regarding two definitions the general nursing experience definition and the primary instructor definition and so our regulations have been revised to reflect the changes in those two definitionsdditionally we made a change to the number of hours that are required
to become acA the new language mirrors the federal regulation which requires75 clock hours and 16 clinical hours for a total of 91 hours the current regulations state 90 hours we also made some technical and grammar corrections to that manual. additionally we are repealing the manual for criminal records checks we are not saying that individuals do not have to have criminal records checks because
they do but we are placing the procedure for doing so on our website because sometimes those requirements change and so we then change the wording on the website I'd be happy to take any questions any questionspresentative Boyd or senator
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
59:24
Boyd sorry co g I was trying to get my screen to light
Speaker 169
59:35
back up sorry. all right any questions?
seeing none without objection, the rule is reviewed and approved. thank you. Moving to item 13, Department of Shared administrative Services officefice of property Risk. we have two items you'll introduce yourself to the committee and present item 8. good morning Grant Wallace director
Speaker 170
1:00:06
of the employee benefits division and office of property Risk I'll describe both A and B in the same light but be glad to answer any
questions specifically on them at at the appropriate time both of these are permanent rules or making permanent temporary rules that we've had in place since the passage of the insurance programme law in the 2025 session they essentially take what was in the law as far as the operational aspects of the insurance program and put them into the rules with that'd be glad to answer any questions and the state insurance oversight committee reviewed these yesterday as well any questions
seeing none without objection the rule is reviewed and approved. Item and as to item B which he also presented any question without objection the rule is reviewed and approved. moving to item 14 Department of shared administrative Services office of state procurement you recognize to introduce yourself and present the rule.
Speaker 176
1:01:20
good morning Jessica Patterson, um, Department of shared administrative Services office of state procurement, um, item A on the agenda is the revisions to the procurement rules. these revisions were made as a result of legislative changes during the 2025 general session including A782. OSP worked for several months with Acasso consulting who was hired by lC by the legislative council to review the procurement laws and rules and make recommended changes. They also
reviewed our rules and um, in order to ensure that they were in line with all procurement laws. So these changes generally implement those recommendations that um, that were made by aosso. we also made some nonsubstantive changes to reflect, the rule nine codification and we also updated some websites and some statutory and some other statutory numbering. some of the more significant changes that were recommended by
Acoso include clarifying the definition of sole source by law and maintenance updating, I means excuse me, defining unrealistic and unreasonable bids and updating some protest requirements and debarment procedures. I'm happy to take any questions Any questions Representative Bentley you're recognized for a question. thank you
chairman and thank you just wanna
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:02:50
I'd ask you a question privately want to publicly say
because I had talked with some agencies and some procurement that they've done but it is perfectly fine for an agency to in their questioning of a of a vendor to find out what their length if they have
worked for the state before, how long they've worked and what they experience has been on the state with
Speaker 176
1:03:13
working with the state on a contract before Yes during during the discussion phase of anrfP all those questions can be asked. in addition we have vendor performance reporting and so negative if an a
department has a negative experience with an a vendor. there is a process for filling out a report of that and those are available to all state departments. Great. thank
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:03:33
you so much thank you chairman Senator Rice,
Chair
Unverified
1:03:38
you're recognized for a question. thank you
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
1:03:41
it's not it's it's for this person but
not on this item. is the governor's hiring freeze is still in place? believe so but I am not the
Speaker 176
1:03:55
probably the appropriate person to answer that question right I'm I'm not with the office of personnel
Chair
Unverified
1:04:06
manageokok Senator Irvin you're recognized for a
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:04:10
question thank you Mr Chair. Just quickly uhm not sure if it's current. I just need it or in this revision but when somebody bids and they're an instate business. do we check on to see if they're up to date with paying taxes to the state
of Arkansas is that part of procurement before we can award a contract to an entity to make sure that they're current with their Arkansas state taxes
Speaker 185
1:04:35
that is not a part of our standard procedure. however they do have to
Speaker 176
1:04:40
demonstrate have their certificate of of business that's given through the Secretary of state's office so we have to make sure that they're up to date on that but I don't in our standard process right now we're we are not checking for tax delinquency.
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
1:04:59
I mean a certificate of good standing is just pain and remitting your franchise taxes which I understand but that's something we I think should look at and thank you. I just wanted to see if it was in the revisions or not but in my opinion, if they owe the state of Arkansas and they're very delinquent and their tax taxes that they've remittance I think that that's something should be considered before we award them a contract with state
tax dollars if they're not willing to pay their own state taxes. So, perhaps you could take that back to the
secretary thank you any other questions Without objection the rule is
Speaker 176
1:05:46
reviewed and approved Next item itemtem B on the agenda is updates to the commodity Man rules this was generally a cleanup of some definitions, some consolidation of definitions
into a single rule. We also updated some of the language to make to make it more consistent throughout the rule. Again, we updated to um, make sure that the numbering was consistent with Title 19. we also made some substantive changes to implement a new revenue distribution model that was passed by Act778 of2025 and then finally we just made some some amendments to streamline
some existing procedures and to generally provide some more
Speaker 188
1:06:36
clarity to the rules Any questions without objection the rule is
reviewed and approved. thank you thank you that brings us to item F agency request to be excluded from reporting requirements of Act595 of2021 in those instances where an agency believes that a rule is not necessary for the
operation of a newly enacted law Act5952021 allows the agency to submit a written report requesting or notifying the subcommittee of its intent not to adopt the required rule and requesting that it be excluded from the agency's monthly updates on rulema we have two requests from the department of commerce statesurance department I'll ask
them to come forward and present their first request for exclusion.
Speaker 194
1:07:33
Good morning members. I'm Sarah Ferris. I am the general counsel of
Speaker 195
1:07:37
the state insurance department and our first request for exemption is regarding Act772 forced organ harvesting. There are two provisions in Act772 regarding rulemaking. The first permits the commissioner to designate by rule any countries other than the people's Republic of China that participate in forced organ harvesting. We are not aware of any countries that do this but if we learn of any we will indeed promulgate a rule.
the second is states the commissioner shall develop and promulgate rules for the implementation and administration of this section the act is well written and complete and a rule is not necessary for us to enforce the act. therefore, the state insurance department re respectfully requested exemption from the rulemaking requirements of Act772.
right as to the first request is there any question is there a motion to approve the request for exclusion
motion is there a second there's a second any discussion all in favor of exclusion sayy aye any opposed motion is approved as to item two which you've already presented is there a motion to approve the request for exclusion there is a motion is there a second? there's a second any discussion all in favor of exclusion sayy aye any opposed motion is approved. Thank
OK. we went ahead and voted on the on the second one do you have any youca you can go ahead and present
Speaker 195
1:09:15
on the second one if you like. I just want you guys to know that we absolutely intend to promulgate rules on restorative reproductive medicine but it is still so new that there is just no information right now for us to be able to use to promulgate rules so we are watching this. we are working with the institute for reststorative Reproductive medicine of America. they're still drafting their clinical guidelines
so as soon as we have some information on which to base on rules we will indeed promulgate rules
but for now we requested exception. thank you. I got ahead of myself less anyone has questions or wants to revisit
the previous vote wellpresent entley you're recognized thank
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:09:55
you and I'm sorry just real quick. so do we have a timeline or we think we might I mean just a a rough timeline I think it's really important for us to get
Speaker 195
1:10:04
these rules established so yes ma'am right now there are no providers in Arkansas that are performing
restorative reproductive medicine to my knowledge we have some that are doing so via telemedicine. we have surveyed some providers the only provider we heard from was a provider who doesn't like RRM at all so that wasn't terribly helpful but as I say we are in touch with Irma that's the institute that's supposed to be drafting the clinical guidelines and umm offering our two cents for whatever that's worth and as soon as they are able to get those guidelines finished hopefully by the end of the year we will be able to come out with some good rules. Could I just a real quick
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
1:10:39
follow up chairman, could I ask that you reach out to our surgeon general. Do. Katey Chandler but she's actually already performing some of these in her service. I would appreciate if you would reach out to her to get some clarification on that and
I would appreciate it thank you very much thank you chairman. any other questions unless there's other
questions or discussion then without objection we'll the the vote has already been taken the exclusion has been granted and we'll wait to hear further on that thank you
right members we're moving to itemg evaluation of ruleviroup re agencies pursuant to actct781 of2017 and act65 of2021 we're continuing our review of the group re agency rule reports under781 today we have Department of Education division of career and technicalducation the report is in your packet
does anybody have any questions if not is there a motion to accept the division's recommendation to keep an extend its rules we have a motion there's is there a 2nd 2nd is there any discussion all in favor sayy aye any opposed the motion passes Next we move to the item h the
agency updates on the status of outstanding rulemaking from the 2023 regular session pursuant to actct595 of2021. does anybody have any these are this is for your information does anybody have any questions or want to ask any of the departments or agencies to come to the table
right seeing no questions and we will move to item
I which is the agency monthly written updates pursuant to actct595 of2021 concerning rulemaking from the 2025 regular session for June 1st,2026 anybody have any question of that related to that item and that information
seeing none without objection the updates will be filed seeing no further business the committee is adjourned.
Agenda
A. Call to Order
B. Report from the Executive Subcommittee Concerning Emergency Rules
C. Reports from ALC Subcommittees Concerning the Review of Rules
D. Reports on Administrative Directives Pursuant to Act 1258 of 2015, for Quarter Ending March 31, 2026
E. Rules Filed Pursuant to Arkansas Code § 10-3-309
F. Agency Requests to Be Excluded from Reporting Requirements of Act 595 of 2021
G. Evaluation of Rule Review Group 3 Agencies Pursuant to Act 781 of 2017 and Act 65 of 2021
H. Agency Updates on the Status of Outstanding Rulemaking from the 2023 Regular Session Pursuant to Act 595 of 2021 (April 1, 2026, and May 1, 2026 updates are retained in the file)1
I. Agency Monthly Written Updates Pursuant to Act 595 of 2021 Concerning Rulemaking from the 2025 Regular Session for June 1, 2026 (April 1, 2026, and May 1, 2026 updates are retained in the file)
J. Adjournment
Documents
No documents posted.
Speakers
Speaker 35
Matthew Ford
Unverified
Speaker 19
Speaker 20
Chair
Unverified
Speaker 27
Speaker 29
Speaker 38
Amanda Gibson
Unverified
Speaker 51
Representative Jack Ladyman
Unverified
Speaker 63
Speaker 66
Speaker 68
Speaker 69
Speaker 75
Speaker 78
Speaker 79
Representative Stetson Painter
Unverified
Speaker 61
Speaker 101
Representative Eas
Unverified
Representative Les D. Eaves
Unverified
Representative Julie Mayberry
Unverified
Speaker 114
Speaker 92
Representative Jeff Wardlaw
Unverified
Senator Missy Irvin
Unverified
Representative DeAnn Vaught
Unverified
Speaker 132
Speaker 135
Speaker 143
Speaker 145
Speaker 136
Representative Mary Bentley
Unverified
Representative Matthew J. Shepherd Chair
Unverified
Senator Justin Boyd
Unverified
Speaker 169
Speaker 170
Speaker 176
Senator Terry Rice
Unverified
Speaker 185
Speaker 188
Speaker 194
Speaker 195