Arkansas Legislative Council, Administrative Rules and Regulations – August 11, 2009
Posted on August 11th, 2009
Date & Time: Wednesday, August 11, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Location: Room 151 , State Capitol
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12001/I7704.pdf
Attachments: none
This committee reviews matters regarding administrative rules and regulations by state agencies, boards, and commissions for Legislative Council review, as required by A.C.A. 10-3-309; and such other matters pertaining to administrative organization, rules, regulations, and procedures as may be assigned to the committee by the Legislative Council.
9:12 am – Committee meeting got off to a late start. Agenda is out of order. Lt. Lindsey Williams of the Arkansas State Police, State Fire Marshal is current informing the committee that the state code will not require fire sprinklers for new one and two family dwellings. Great decision. As a professional engineer that has been involved in this debate within my own profession, I am glad to see that this is not going to become a requirement in Arkansas.
9:19 am – Senator Percy Malone is questioning why the new rule and regulation is informing City and Counties of the right to pass local regulations when they already know they have that right.
9:23 am – The cost of implementing sprinklers often have hidden costs beyond the basic cost of the system, including structural changes to create conditioned spaces for running wet pipe systems, the requirement for engineering design work where residential contruction rarely requires it.
9:29 am – Statistics show that there is not a substatial number of lives saved by sprinklers and smoke alarms over smoke alarms alone. It can be shown that there are substantial reductions in property damage therefore I am sure that the free market will cause this to become common practice due to insurance rate reductions.
9:38 am – The committee reviewed the rule as was amended to remove unneccessary statements.
9:41 am – Randy Young of the Natural Resources Comission is currently discussing new rules concerning the utilization of surface water. The rules are concerning minimum stream flow for the White River. This will impact farmers who need use that water for irrigation purposes. Mr. Young said that limits were set to balance environmental concerns with agricultural interests.
9:44 am – The ARKANSAS LOTTERY COMMISSION LEGISLATIVE OVERSIGHT COMMITTEE is currently going on in Room 138. Too bad I can’t be in two places at once.
9:46 am – Jennifer Jones Taylor, Arkansas Alternative Dispute Resolution Commission, is currently presenting three new rules concerning continuing mediation education requirements for Certified Mediators, minimum standards for mediation training, and requirements for the certification of mediator for Arkansas Circuit Courts.
9:49 am – The new rules include new fees or fee increase. Senator Percy Malone is questioning the authority of the agency to create fees without legislative approval. He is exactly correct. This is a dangerous precident for an agency to perform this task.
9:52 am – Matthew Miller, an attorney from the Bureau of Legislative Research is explaining that there is nothing in the code that allows them to do this, but courts might say they may have broad authority to do it. He explained that this is an area that the legislature should make more clear. If you don’t like being nickeled and dimed by your government, you might ask your legislator to clearly define what fees an agency may establish or increase and prohibit any that are not specifically defined.
9:57 am – In the era of term limits with decreasing legislative authority and increasing bureaucratic authority, this is an important discussion. When the bureaucrats gain access to funding and the ability to increase their funding without accountability to voters or their elected representives, a severe imbalance of power results.
10:00 am – Some legislators in the past have welcomed the ability of an agency to raise funds independently because it insulates them of the political cost of voting for a tax or fee increase.
10:10 – The fee increase rules were held for further review.
10:11 am – Shelley Lee of the Department of Human Services, Developmental Disablities presented DD Policy #1089 which was reviewed without question or comment. She asked to skip over DDS Policy #1086, which means it probably had a fee increase and did not want to deal with the same questions of the last presenter.
10:13 am – Jeff Wood (former State Rep.) attorney for the Dept. of Human Services, Medical Services presented new rules that were reviewed without question or comments.
10:15 am – Jon Fitch of the Livestock and Poultry Commission is presenting a new rule to require Trichomoniasis testing for Bulls. Apparently the time requirement will be about 30 days and about $60 per animal.
10:19 am – Maurice Rigsby, Deputy Director at the AR Oil and Gass Commission is presenting two new rules one concerning natural gas production reports and back pressure tests for natural gas production. Senator Percy Malone ask how producers will get the information in time since the rule will go into effect very quickly. Mr. Rigsby pointed to the public comment period.
10:23 am – Butch Calhoun of the AR Dept of Rural Services is presenting new rules for GIF Grants. Information questions being asked, some not necessarily pertaining to the rule. Rules stand reviewed.
10:26 am – Wanda Hayes of the Arkansas Sentencing Commission is implementing rules created by legislation during the last session. Those rules were reviewed without question or comment.
10:27 am – Senator Hendren asked about event vendors requirements for the Dept. of Health. Apparently, the new rules are for informational and training purposes. They are not being punitively enforced.
10:31 am – Committee Adjourned. Headed over to the Lottery Oversight meeting.
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