Public Transportation- House

going to have to settle down, thank you, thank you. That's, that's the young group over there I didn't mention you Miss Brown. Cheeses decorum. Uh, thank you for being here this morning. Transportation Committee, uh, first of all, I think, uh, Representative Torres has a bill that you're running. I think you have an amendment that you want to run first. So what let's hear the amendment and uh then we'll get to your bill. That's House Bill 1315, and you may proceed. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and good morning, uh, House members. Uh, yes, to this is, uh, House Bill 1315, and my amendment basically. Uh, is if you look on the, on the back or the second page of the bill lines 11 through 13, uh, we will be striking out and adding what you see in the amendment there that just really bullet points the responsibilities of the applicant on this bill and really number one is just the accuracy of the information and then bullet 0.2 is the verification of the accuracy, uh, that they're submitting. For the driver's license code and then uh finally section 2 and all that does is just make it very clear when this bill will become effective if approved, and that would be January 1st, 2026. That all this came by recommendation, uh, from the DFA folks and so they're just kind of just helps solidify and and simplify some of the things that we're asking in this bill. All right, thank you. Any questions for committee on the amendment. Anyone here to speak for or against the amendment. Seeing none. Do I have a motion for the committee Representative McIlroy, you recognized? Have a due pass any discussion on the amendment. All in favor say aye. In your polls, same likes I ain't hearing none. Congratulations. Uh, your amendments passed. You may proceed with your bill. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. OK, so House Bill 1315 is being introduced to allow Arkansans the option to display their blood type on a state government issued IDs to help first responders and emergencies. This law could potentially save lives by providing critical information quickly during emergency situations, uh, so basically how. what works is Arkansans can choose to indicate their blood type when they renew or replace their driver's license or ID. Uh, online or in or in person at any Arkansas Department of Motor Vehicles customer service center, uh, first time applicants for a license or ID must visit a customer service center in person, uh, when renewing or replacing a license, individuals are prompted to decide if they want to include their blood type on their ID. And then the blood type is displayed uh with a small icon on the front of the license or on the back of the license as they find appropriate on the, on the card, um, this idea actually came to me from a constituent in my community, a veteran, and he, um, I stated that they had did uh completed two big blood drives in the community and the concern he had was that most if not all of the people didn't know their blood type, and he, uh, said, you know, when we're in the army, uh, it was very important for us to have our blood type, uh, you know, easily on our dog tags so that if we ever needed an infusion, we could get it. Um, I have spoken, uh, to the Arkansas EMT Association. They looked through this bill and they thought it was a great idea. Uh, the concern is primarily in the rural areas of Arkansas when, uh, potentially a helicopter or even an ambulance shows up with blood if they know what kind of blood to give someone that needs an infusion quickly, uh, they will be able to respond appropriately. Um, the other thing, uh, as far as the fiscal impact, there is none. Uh, however, it does state that the resources required would be an estimated cost of 52,000, uh, to reprogram the AIRS system. Uh, one of the things that I came privy to this morning was uh representative Perrier this morning, uh, recognized it on the back of the driver's license, uh, of your Arkansas driver's license, there is a medical. Code place where you can. potentially position your blood type on there, so it may simplify the process and the cost of this bill. So with that I'll take any questions. OK, thank you. Very good presentation committee. Anyone have questions? Representative Whittaker, you're recognized. Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, Representative, I'm just a little confused because in part of your explanation, you said one of the problems was people don't know their blood type. And then the rest of the thing says they're the ones who solely responsible for telling DFNA what to put on the card. Yes sir. Get me from point A to point B somehow. Yes, sir. So I think what this will help us do is prompt people to get tested for their blood type so that when they do get a driver's license or if they go get their driver's license renewed, they can begin to put that correct information on their driver's license. All right, let's hope so. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Any other questions from committee? Seeing none anyone here to. Speak for against the bill, seeing none, what's the will of the committee. Pardon me? Yeah, I forget you, you, you need, if you want a close for your bill, you can close. I, I think I'm good. I got a motion to pass. We. As amended, as amended motion as amended. Any discussion on the motion. All in favor, say I. And he opposes same like signing here in you know congratulations. Your bill passes as amended. Thank you. I forgot to ask my vice chair, did you have any comments or any, anything this morning? You're, you're happy with the way things are going then, uh, OK, that's wanna make sure. We are going to pass over House Bill 1371. Uh, and next the Senate Bill 78, uh, Representative McClendon, are you? You feel free to question her, quiz her, whatever you'd like to do on this uh. You may proceed. Thank you. Yeah. Hold it, your butt side up. There you go. OK, you're good. Representative McAlinden, House District 10. OK, so this is a bill to amend the driver's license manual, um, many drivers are aware of general road safety, but work zones tend to be an area where drivers are less aware and in fact, we've had over 28, um, our employees killed over the last 2 years in work zones. So it's important that we be sure we're educating. People about it, I believe that the current manual does not give enough specifics about driving in a work zone and adding work zone safety to our manual and the test will help educate young drivers and new drivers to the safety issues, and I think that the likelihood of accidents could be significantly decreased by doing that currently, uh, this bill, which is pretty straightforward, is supported by the um Arkansas State Police RDA, the um asphalt Pavers Association as well as the general contractors, um. With that, I'd be happy to take any questions. Any questions from committee? Representative Richmond, you recognize? Thank you, Mr. Chair. Uh, well, this also include the, the The effort to get more questions on the actual exam because if you want kids to pay attention to what they're reading, they need to be tested on it so there are questions that will be in the pool for the exam, but not necessarily on every exam, as I understand it. OK. Any other questions from committee? It's too easy. I know, uh, Representative who actually does the, who does the state police. OK, I was just, I don't wanna make that clear, so. OK, anyone here to speak for or against the bill? I did not see anyone signed up. Uh, saying no questions. Would you like to close for your bill. What's the will of the committee? Representative Hall motion to pass. Any discussion? All in favor, say I. Any posed Samuel Laine, Harry Nunn, congratulations that your bill passes. Committee, uh, this we have nothing else on the agenda for today. We will not meet again unless some emergency arises, we probably will not meet again until next Tuesday. So be sure and watch your calendar and if there's no other business to