Joint Education Committee – September 9, 2009

Posted on September 9th, 2009

Date & Time: Wednesday, September 09, 2009 at 10:00 AM
Location: Room 171, State Capitol
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12070/I7771.pdf
Attachments: none

This committee reviews matters pertaining to public kindergarten, elementary, secondary, and adult education, vocational education, vocational-technical schools, vocational rehabilitation, higher education, private educational institutions, similar legislation, and resolutions germane to the subject matter of the committee.(House Rules 62.1)

10:02 am – Meeting called to order by Sen. Jimmy Jeffress.

10:03 am – We welcome a new committee staff person that replaces a recently retired committee staff person. Jaunita Giles replaces the retiring Patricia Laughter.

10:04 am – Richard Wilson is providing an update on the adequacy survey and the impact of the fiscal session on the procedure. See the information here for more information. This process should result in a “tweaking” of the matrix by adjusting the various numbers in the matrix. Any activity that pulls numbers out of the matrix or puts additional items in the matrix that impact other values in the matrix will need to be carefully considered so as not to impact the Supreme Courts declaration of adequacy.

10:12 am – Mr. James Boardman, Assistant Commissioner for Reseach and Technology in the Arkansas Department of Education is currently providing an update on the Longitudinal Tracking System. He is talking about the development of electronic transcripts. This allows for a smooth transfer of students and also aids in student advising upon college entry. Apparently our data system is one of the better ones in the countries.

10:29 am – Lots of discussion about the data collection, mostly just technical blah blah. But one thing caught my attention, the data will begin to be used to evaluate performance metrics to determine if a particular policy is effective in improving student accomplishment.

10:34 am – The data system discovered that there were 5000 duplication of students. Sen. Kim Hendren points out that 5000 students at about $7000 each funding from the state resulting in about $35 million dollars annually going where it should not have. He asked where did that money go. The answer was that the system used to not be able to check for that and that the money was probably recieved legally, but now the new system will stop this.

10:39 am – Coming soon! hive.arkansas.gov — This will provide information to parents, teachers, school districts, universities, and businesses on the performance of the various school districts.

10:43 am – Rep. Rainey is asking about training for the data analysis. Mr. Boardman said that the data will be charted and graphed to improve ability to analyze the data, but he believes that teachers need to access the data to meet their particular needs rather than have the DOE analyze it for them.

10:55 am – Debbie Coffman, Education Associate Director for Professoinal Development at the Arkansas Department of Education is providing an update on the On-Line Professional Development Program. Apparently some school districts do not use the IDEAS system for the required 60 hours of professional development.

11:05 am – Rep. Abernathy is concerned that school districts are not spending funds given to them for professional development . He asked for additional metrics to evaluate the situation.

11:14 am – Mr. Bill Goff, Assistant Commissioner for Fiscal and Administrative Services at the Arkansas Department of Education is providing an update on the AR DOE’s Fiscal Distress Program and Academic Distress Program.

11:24 am – We are currently reviewing the proposed rules identifying and governing the Arkansas Fiscal Assessment adn Accountablity Program. These should be eventually be posted here: http://arkansased.org/rules/rules_pending.html

11:38 am – Next meeting will be in Jasper in Newton County. Meeting adjourned.

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Two Days Left: Prairie Grove Clothes Line Fair!

Posted on September 6th, 2009

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DON’T MISS!: 58th Annual Clothesline Fair at Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park

Posted on September 5th, 2009

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Holly Houser; holly.houser@arkansas.gov

The, Prairie Grove Lions Club, the Arts Center of the Ozarks and Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park invite everyone to attend the 58th Clothesline Fair on September 5th through the 7th. This Labor Day weekend event features over 200 booths with artisans selling, displaying, and demonstrating their handmade crafts. In addition, there will be musical entertainment, square dancing, displays of antique farming equipment, and the park historic houses will be open for viewing. The Prairie Grove Lions Club and other non-profit organizations will operate food and drink concessions in the park throughout the three-day festival with proceeds benefiting Prairie Grove non-profit organizations including the Lions Club, Band Boosters, PTA, and Boy Scouts. Again this year, we are going to have a Ham radio broadcast tent with broadcasting from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. Saturday through Monday, sponsored by Joe Dunn, who can be contacted at 479-267-3070, or by e-mail at bjoedunn@hotmail.com.

Starting at 7:30 a.m. on Saturday, there is a one-mile Yankee dash fun run, followed by the 5K Battlefield Run, all on Battlefield park grounds. There will be awards for overall male and female runners and different age divisions. For more information, contact the sponsor at Century 21, Stinchcomb Realty, Battlefield Run, Attn: Ron Stinchcomb, 975 E. Douglas, Suite 1, Prairie Grove, AR 72753-1004; phone (479) 267-5000; fax (479) 846-5628; e-mail: battlefieldrun@pgtc.com.

A parade through downtown Prairie Grove sponsored by the Prairie Grove Chamber of Commerce starts at Prairie Grove Public Schools on Saturday at 9:00 a.m., ending at the Battlefield State Park. After the parade on Saturday, there will be a Grandmaster Han’s Martial Arts Demonstration at the playground area from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

One of the oldest arts and craft shows in Arkansas, the Clothesline Fair has something for everyone. The arts and crafts show, sponsored by the Arts Center of the Ozarks, gets underway at 8:30 a.m. and concludes at 5 p.m. on Saturday and Sunday, and on Labor Day Monday from 8:30 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Booths will include unique gifts made by hand, including: Rod Hannaman makes ceramics with intricate, tiny villages attached; check out his website at www.REH-art.com. Kari Ahlum, from Rogers, Arkansas, makes children’s’ paintings, tutus, and more. Tessa Foster with Magpie Designs out of Bella Vista offers fiber arts and more. Dan and Charlotte Hayer out of Choctaw, Oklahoma, run the Laughing Rabbit Soap Company and make finely crafted handmade soaps and various products using fragrant herbs. Jerry and Judy Lovenstein are the owners of Grassy Creek Brooms from Mountain Home, AR, and make beautiful brooms, hand carved walking staffs, and copper dustpans. Marc Meng from Hungry Holler, out of Eucha, OK, creates beautiful hand carved wooden spoons and utensils made from woods that are a variety of colors.

There will be free entertainment at the bandstand with a variety of performers from country, pop, and gospel music on Saturday from 11 a.m. until 6 p.m. and Monday from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. Any group or individual interested in singing on Saturday or Monday may call John Carethers at 479-846-1718 or 479-409-3552 and leave a message or e-mail john.carethers@edwardjones.com. Gospel music is the featured program on Sunday starting at 1 p.m., featuring Born Again and several other groups from the surrounding communities singing country / southern gospel music; any group or individual interested in singing on Sunday may call Marion Cowan at 479-846-3968 or e-mail omhealth@pgtc.com. Activities move to the amphitheater at 3:30 p.m. on Saturday as an evening of square dancing exhibitions with children ages 4 and older, showing their skills followed by the older children at 7 p.m. Everyone will dance again on Monday starting at 3:30 p.m., with the competition beginning at 7 p.m. Bring a lawn chair and enjoy the music and square dancing. Members of the Rustic Relics Club will display a variety of antique tractors and other farming equipment throughout the Fair with special demonstrations.

Hindman Hall museum will be open daily from 8 a.m. until 5 p.m., free of charge throughout the festival. The museum features a diorama of the battlefield, and historical artifacts from the battle. There is a $5.00 fee for parking in the State Park each day, with a portion of the fee supporting the Big House Youth Outreach organization located in Prairie Grove. Everyone is welcome to come participate in this great event.

For more information: Prairie Grove Battlefield State Park, 506 E. Douglas Street, Prairie Grove, AR 72753; or call (479) 846-2990; e-mail prairiegrove@arkansas.com. Check us out on the web at http://www.arkansasstateparks.com/prairiegrovebattlefield for information about the Battlefield Park and other Arkansas State Park locations and a full list of park events.

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Arkansas Legislative Council – PEER – September 3, 2009

Posted on September 3rd, 2009

Date & Time: Thursday, September 03, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Location: Room 171, State Capitol
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12030/I7760.pdf
Attachments: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Pages/MeetingAttachments.aspx?ItemId=12030&CalType=ME&List=Meetings&btnok=nook

This committee reviews matters pertaining to the financial operations and fiscal performances of state agencies, departments, and institutions, including but not limited to, program performance and evaluation, efficiency in the operation of agency programs and services, coordination of programs and services which require the expenditure of state funds, the stability and adequacy of the various fund and fund accounts of the state, and other matters pertaining to agency performance and accountability in the use of public funds may be referred to this committee. Matters pertaining to the organization, consolidation, merger, or abolishment of a state agency, board, commission, or program, and such other matters as maybe assigned by the Council.

1:38 pm – Meeting called to order. August Revenue report presented. Net available for distribution is down 3.7% so far this year. We are 33 Million below forcast. I think forecast was about 60 million below last year. I think that means we are 90 million below last year.

1:42 pm – Cigarette tax revenues are up and on target to fund expected expensed associated with it. Overall, cigarette sales are down. Rep. Glidewell expressed concern that the sales loss was from people buying out of state rather than a decline in the number of smokers. He cited a report about overall sales in Oklahoma rising.

1:45 pm – Trends show that the Arkansas economy lags the national economy… We enter periods of economic downturns after the rest of the country and we come out of it later than the rest of the country.

1:46 pm – Rep. Lea is asking why ABC fines are down 19.5% The answer is that it is a large change in small numbers and will probably level out over a period of 6 months.

1:47 pm – We are currently on target to fund all of “A” funds in revenue stablization, 18% of “B” and none of the rest.

1:52 pm – Rep. Lea is asking Richard Wiess why after being below projections 7 of 8 months he made the statement that they do not intend revise the forecast. He believes that although monthly numbers are low that the forecast will be fine on an annual basis.

1:55 pm – Rep. Lea asked how much of the revenue surplus that was left over from the last budget had been dipped into so far. He expressed that $61 million out of $100 million had been committed so far.

1:57 pm – We are currently reviewing Cash Fund Appropriation Increase requests, Budget Classification Transfer requests, and Miscellaneous Federal Grant Appropriation Requests.

1:59 pm – Most of the Federal Grants are part of the ARRA funds. Rep. Lea asked if they were private sector jobs. Teresa Marks, ADEQ, said that the funds are being used to contract with private contractors for environmental clean-up.

2:01 pm – See item E in the attachments above. These are the items that are currently being reviewed. Most of these are American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA), also known as Stimulus Funds, and are temporary positions created. Rep. Lea asked if all these people are being informed that the positions are temporary. Apparently that has ALWAYS been the policy for federally funded programs. During the last meeting I feel I was let to believe that EXTRA precautions were being issued to these employees due the inherently short term nature of the Stimulus package.

2:09 pm – We are currently reviewing the State Fiscal Stabilization Fund Government General Services Projects. These are more of the ARRA funds. Rep. Dismang is asked about unexpended grants. The response was that the state would recapture and reallocate those funds.

2:12 pm – So far, $77,221,229 have been funded, there are $3,555,849 remaining funds.

2:17 pm – Sen. Jeffress is asking why some private schools are getting some of the ARRA funds. Apparently this is allowed and that the use for energy efficency and modernization was okay.

2:20 pm – There is some friendly ribbing about the appropriation of fund to various legislators districts.

2:22 pm – There is a discussion about how scholarship funds are being allocated. There is claims that because of the lottery scholarship fund one half the amount for two year colleges as four year colleges that the poor man is funding the rich man’s kids to go to college. The point was made that students from a home with $75,000 family income attends colleges at an 8:1 ratio compared to those from a home with $25,000 income.

2:25 pm – Sen. Percy Malone is expressing concerns about how money is being spent for research at the University of Arkansas. Apparently he is concerned about how much is being expended for Rice Research vs. Poultry Research.

2:27 pm – Rep. Dismang is concerned that because everyone know how much is budgeted, then it taints the competitive bid process since the bidders know what is budgeted for the project. It doesn’t seem that there is anything we can do about this because of the structure of the ARRA Stimulus policies.

2:31 pm – Currently reviewing Emergency Transfer Requests – see attachment F.

2:45 pm – We are currently covering the General Improvement Funds. There are questions about how this is being appropriated. Mostly about how the even distribution about planning and development districts.

2:47 pm – Rep. Maloch is asking if the $6 million loan to the lottery commission will be repaid to the state on the 7th day after the start of the lottery or shortly after that since they are predicting $1 million per day in revenues.

2:51 pm – Meeting adjourned.

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Arkansas Legislative Council – Review – September 2, 2009

Posted on September 2nd, 2009

Date & Time: Wednesday, September 02, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Location: Room 171, State Capitol
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12072/I7754.pdf
Attachments: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/R/Pages/MeetingAttachments.aspx?ItemId=12072&CalType=ME&List=Meetings&btnok=nook

This committee reviews Agency requests for professional services contracts and consultant services contracts. (A.C.A. 19-11-1006). Proposed methods of financing for capital expenditures in excess of $250,000 which have not been approved by the General Assembly (A.C.A. 22-9-104) are reviewed by this committee. Requests of state agencies for leasing of motor vehicles (for more than 30 days) prior to final approval of said lease by this state purchasing administrator (A.C.A. 22-8-102) are approved by this committee. Also, other matters may be referred to this committee by the Legislative Council.

1:32 pm – Meeting called to order by Senator Barbara Horn.

1:34 pm – Arkansas Military Department and CDI Contractors of the Northwest Arkansas Armed Forces Reserve Center contract review was held over from last meeting because no one was present to answer legislative questions. Rep. Glidewell asked why the estimated cost per square foot was so high. (He is concerned because this was a negotiated contract.) The response is because there is additional site work, particularly parking for heavy military equipment.

1:40 pm – There is alot of questions about the furniture cost per square foot of $8/sq. ft. Apparently the Federal Government requires new furniture for construction projects of a certain size.

1:42 pm – Rep. Pritchard said that he hoped that just because this is Federal money that we were not tricking ourselves to believe it is free money. He said that he remembers April 15 and believes in being good stewards of the taxpayers dollars.

1:44 pm – Rep. Dunn is making the point that if everything is considered in the cost of the project, then almost every project meets the threshhold for negotiated contracts. Rep. Dunn has long been suspicious of negotiated contracts. [I think he has a feel that "hinky" things are going on with some of the negotiated contracts. I generally believe that negotiated contracts can save tax payer dollars, limit change orders, and improve quality. However, Mr. Dunn is correct that the nature of the method requires careful oversight to avoid potential abuses.]

2:02 pm – Rep. Glidewell is asking who would recieve the “mark-up” on those parts the different parts of the contract, like the furniture. The answer was that the estimate is currently for funding purposes only and that the military department would retain any surpluses, probably to be used for other parts of the project.

2:07 pm – Senator Jimmy Jeffress asked all the representatives for the Review of Methods of Finance for ASU – Newport, Arkansas Tech University, Pulaski Technical College, Southern Arkansas University, and the University of Arkansas – Fort Smith.

2:09 pm – Sen. Jeffress is concerned that the even though we are putting alot of money into the system from the lottery that the cost to the students will still go up. These new contracts currently under review are reported to be paid by tuition and fees.

2:11 pm – Sen. Jeffress is asking, “Did you increase tuition and fees?”, “Are you going to increase tuition and fees?, and “If you are not going to increase tuition and fees, what is rolling off the budget to account to finance these new bonds?” ASU Newport and Arkansas Tech did not increase tuition and fees. The others did, but all claim that none of those increases were driven to fund the aforementioned bonds.

2:15 pm – Sen Jeffress emphasized that he would be watching to make sure that the cost of college attendence goes down and stays down in light of the lottery scholarships. [I agree with Sen. Jeffress's fears, a free market has a definite price point at what people will pay for college... not in absolute terms... but in consumer's out of pocket expenses. The lottery funds create a "slush" in the free market that the colleges and universities could exploit.

2:20 pm - Rep. Reep after questioning SAU represenative determined that a project with a large increase in the revised total projected cost was actually a very different project entirely. He suggested that the method of reporting to us (the legislature) needs to change.

2:24 pm - Rep. Clark Hall is inquiring about the cost per square foot of each of the colleges for construction projects under review. [I am wondering if we need to establish some guidelines for the method of finance (MOF) and what is allowed. ]

2:28 pm – Reperesenatative Ray Kidd is taking up for the university in his district – ASU. He is asking leading questions to point out the successes of Arkansas State University. Everyone is humorously laughing about the transparency of his line of questions. Good for him, he is taking up for his constituents.

2:32 pm – As required by Arkansas Code 19-4-2201, we are reviewing discretionary grants by the Dept. of Health, Dept. of Human Services, and the DHS – ARRA Grants.

2:34 pm – Sen. Key is asking if the grant submissions have to include on how the funds are being used and if they are broken down? Is there a minimum amount of the grants that is supposed to go directly to patient care? The response from Mary Leif was that yes, that information has to be reported and the funds are supposed to provide additional direct assistance. [However, this does not determine how much is being used for equipment, staffing, or administration.] I think Sen. Key is concerned that more than is reasonable may end up in going to administration rather than direct service to those in need.

2:41 pm – The CHC Grants that will serve my District are for River Valley Primary Care and St. Francis House. River Valley reports that no large equipment items, no lease, expenses, and no contracted services will be funded by grant. However, new full time employees will be added, but I see no increases for current employees. St. Francis House reports that no funds will be used to fund salaries of current employees, but additional will probably be added, and they are devoting some to building lease.

2:46 pm – Sen. Percy Malone makes the point that we are funding both the expenses of care, and we are paying the CHCs to fund additional employees. He seems to be concerned that this is somewhat double funding. He also expressed concerned that we need to be careful not to drive the free enterprise out of the market. Some legitimate concerns. [It is my opinion that it will drive out private health providers that current provide those services.]

2:50 pm – Grant funding review approved.

2:51 pm – Committee speed is accelerating. This is the point when bad stuff happens. Things are happening faster than I can record, but you can look at the agenda and know that we just approved everything in agenda items for Items 4 and 5.

2:55 pm – 2,740,000 is in the Arkansas Economic Development Commission contracts for the “Cash for Clunker Refrigerators”. Look at page 42 of the attachments.

2:57 pm – Sen. Malone is asking informational questions about a PBM transparency due to a recent law that was passed.

3:02 pm – Sen. Madison is asking why we are paying UALR to pay a private firm to do research at the Kennedy Space center? A very good question. This question concerns nanotechology research at UALR.

3:05 pm – Sen. Jeffress is pointing out another contract that will be paid for by student tuition and fees.

3:06 pm – I have splitting headache. If I were not live-blogging this meeting I would be in a dark quiet room trying to go to sleep. Come rain come, I am tired of all of this allergenic crap floating around in the air.

3:07 pm – Sen. Jeffress is asking why there are two contracts for educational audits each for a single school district. He asked if they are duplicating services. They are not. They serve different areas of the educational system. Sen. Jeffress pointed out that he recognized some of the names on the contracts and asked how they could provide expert audits in another school district when their own school district is not meeting AYP. He points out that he even sees husbands and wives on the lists. He believes there are some things about this because their are teachers and superindents are going out earning income when they need to be back at their own district. The response is that they have to take a vacation. Sen. Jeffress said that would probably be something to follow up on.

3:19 pm – Sen. Madison is asking about the personnel being used to perform audit are the same people than needs to be audited, and felt that it seem audited. One of the assistance directors at the department of education rudely interuptted Senator Sue Madison and said, “If you would allow me, Maam!” as Sen. Madison was asking an extended question. [Ten years ago, before the agencies filled the power vacuum caused by term limits, she would have been sent out of the room. That response is not the level of respect that should be extended to a senator in a committee meeting.]

3:20 pm – When Senator Horn, who is chairing the committee asked the will of the committee, no one made a motion to approve the review. Sen. Jeffress expressed concerned that the fox may be guarding the hen house and asked that we get a list of schools for which audits were done for the last four years and what the outcomes of this particular program is.

3:24 pm – Rep. Reep is asking if we are going to hold up this work if we fail to approve this contract. It is claimed it will. [This is not the legislators fault. If this stuff needs to be before the committee in sufficient time for legitimate review by the legislature.]

3:30 pm – Sen. Malone is asking why these contracts were signed and committed too and this was submitted to the legislature at the last minute. The representative said it was not her fault that her part of it was accomplished in a timely manner.

3:34 pm – We are the point where any person could ask for a call of the quorum or roll call and stop this. Sen. Malone is asking for a consideration of going ahead review, but to have a follow-up. Sen. Jeffress is asking for her to bring back information both on metrics of success and failure of the program AND a copy of the laws that she claims would be violated if we failed to approve today.

3:43 pm – The failure of an agency to plan ahead does not constitute an emergency on the legislature’s part. This report is being allowed to proceed, but I believe that there will be finally be done to correct the abuse of the generosity of the legislature by the agencies.

3:46 pm – Remainder of the reports are progressing rapidly again. None require committee action, but are simple informational reports.

3:48 pm – Meeting adjourned.

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“The Matrix” Revisited… Yet Again.

Posted on September 1st, 2009

How many of you have heard of the school “funding matrix”? The funding matrix is the brain-child of former Senator David Bisbee as a solution to some of the problems presented by the Lakeview lawsuit. Love him or hate him, you have to give credit where credit is due and Sen. Bisbee help put more in place that successfully ended court intervention than any single person in the legislature.

It is my opinion that any, and I mean ANY person seeking a state representative or state senate seat need to spend some time with Sen. Bisbee and get to know the history of, the rational behind, and the mechanics of the school funding matrix. You could offer to buy his coffee, but that probably won’t be necessary. He is always ready and enthusiastic about sharing his knowledge on this subject… and trust me… he KNOWS this subject.

The reason I bring this up is to notify you that the wheels of the legislative machine has been put in motion to review and revise “the matrix”. The end result of the “sausage grinder” of the legislative process is that we could end up back in court as various special interests around the state seek to yank pieces out of the matrix and siphon extra goodies from the school funds toward their interests. The current funding system utilizing the matrix has been declared by the State Supreme Court to be “adequate and equitable”, any meddling with it and we risk reopening that Pandora’s box.

Here (Adobe Acrobat File) is very brief introduction to the resource utilization report we were provided last biennium. Also attached is the current foundation funding matrix (Excel File) that reflects funding both before and after the recalibration (affecting years after FY07).

The complete revision of this matrix along with the associated research and all required reports will begin today and should be completed one year from today on September 1st, 2010. This will allow the Committees on Education to be prepared for the Fall 2010 budget hearings and the 2011 General Session, at which time the findings can be utilized to provide the appropriate funding for Arkansas K – 12 Education.

There has been identified, as required by legislation, five topics that must be addressed by the Department of Education, one from the Division of Legislative Audit, and an additional 27 subject-areas that will be exhaustively researched by the Bureau of Legislative Research. In addition, there are nine ISPs that are closely related to this area of work that could be included.

Pay attention folks, this may not be the glamorous and sexy policy stuff that gets people fired up and to town hall meetings, but it is very important. Legislators and candidates who fail to be informed on this do so at their constituent’s peril.

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Joint Public Retirement & Social Security Programs – September 1, 2009

Posted on September 1st, 2009

Date & Time: Tuesday, September 1, 2009 at 1:30 PM
Location: Room 130, State Capitol
Agenda: http://www.arkleg.state.ar.us/assembly/2009/Lists/Meetings/Attachments/12090/I7744.pdf
Attachments: none

The committee shall review the actuarial solvency, adequacy of benefits, and all other aspects of the publicly supported retirement systems of the state. The committee shall also study and review all proposals for changes or amendments to any of the existing public retirement laws or for the creation of new or expanded public retirement systems. (A.C.A. 10-3-703)

1:38 pm – Meeting called to order by Rep. George Overby

1:39 pm – Minutes for the November 24, 2008 meeting approved.

1:40 pm – Ms. Estella Smith is providing a summary of retirement legislation enacted by the General Assembly this last session.

1:41 pm – Mr. Jody Carreiro presented the activities of the committee during the session. More than 62 items were worked on.

1:44 pm – Interim Study Proposal (ISP) 2009-021 approved for study. ISP 2009-051 was withdrawn by Rep. Saunders. ISP 2009-115 by Rep Stewart was approved for study. ISP 2009-089 was skipped over on the agenda. ISP 2009-141 by Sen. Gene Jeffress was approved for study. ISP 2009-146 by Sen. Laverty was approved for study. ISP 2009-185 by Rep. Tim Summers was approved for study.

1:48 pm – We are currently reviewing the status of the state-supported retirement systems. Mr. David Clark, Executive Director of the Local Police and Fire Retirement System reports that the system is currently at a positive return for the year, after taking tough losses in 2008. The system is currently 82% funded. He feels like the system is sound but has some recovery needed to return to the above 90% funding prior to 2008.

1:51 pm – Sen. Key asked Mr. Clark if the Police and Fire Retirement system has a retire and return policy. Briefly, it appears that they do, but the rules seem to be quite abit more stringent than those of other public retirement systems.

1:53 pm – Mr. Mike Boyd, Assistant Chief Fiscal Officer is reporting on the Highway Employees Retirement System. Like the other retirement systems, they took losses in 2008. They have a positive rate of return now.

1:54 pm – Rep Lea is asking why the Highway Employees Retirement System is separate from other state employees. The answer was “that is the way it has always been.”

1:55 pm – Mr. George Hopkins, Executive Director is reporting on the Teacher Retirement System. He has been the ED for onlyl about 8 months now.

1:57 pm – Crawford County currently has 1,854 active members of the system with a salary of $50,762,165. There are 474 retirees with an annuity of $10,162,547. The T-Drop count is 78 with lump sum of $6,073,744.

2:00 pm – Washington County currently has 6,172 active members of the system with a salary of $165,625,145. There are 1,297 retirees with an annuity of $25,869,079. The T-Drop count is 189 with lump sum of $17,505,461.

2:02 pm – As of 2008 the Arkansas Teacher Retirement System has 19.5 years of unfunded liabilities. The investment return for the year of 2009 is currently down -18%. The others systems reviewed so far have been up for the year.

2:04 pm – In 2005 the unfunded liabilities was 3.8 years.

2:05 pm – Sen. Gene Jeffress is pointing out the ratio of active teachers in the retirement syste versus the number of retirees.

2:07 pm – Mr. Hopkins is being asked why ATRS is not investing more heavily in Arkansas by Rep. Kidd. He seems to think that if ATRS had been invested in Arkansas it would not have fallen 18% last year. He may be right, but Mr. Hopkins pointed out that if ATRS had stuffed the money in a mattress it would not have lost 18%.

2:10 pm – Mr. Hopkins is discussing a new hire that he believes is will be a hot dog real estate investor. He made a joke pointing out that there is a building that he would like to sell the state to house legislators.

2:11 pm – There are 23 retired teachers in the ATRS system over 100 years of age. Earlier Mr. Hopkins discussed looking at increasing their benefits sometime in the future because the structure of the system means their benefits are low compared to recent retirees. They have an average of 30 years of service and recieve an average monthly benefit of $1,502. Thier average final salary was $5,708 and have a total benefits paid to date of $322,527.

2:17 pm – Mr. Hopkins is currently discussing discussing the fact that ATRS is currently requesting refunds from those who illegally received retirement funds. He said that he believes those people didn’t know that were not supposed to do it.

2:20 pm – Rep. Roebuck is asking if Mr. Hopkins is limited in the information he has and if he is recieving cooperation from the school districts. He said yes but the school districts use the school data collection software so they are not a problem, but it is the universities, colleges, and technical schools still need to provide additional information. He expects that there will be full compliance of all the employers once proper internal processes occur.

2:23 pm – Rep. Kerr is asking about going forward to make sure that people retire properly, what is ATRS doing to make sure that everyone is following the proper rules. He said that they are providing information and follow-up questionaire.

2:30 pm – Mr. Hopkins was asked a question about keeping retirement information records secret and not making public expenditures transparent. He says that he would not change a long standing policy. He was asked again, “What are the public policy reasons for keeping that information private.” His answer is that it is about of privacy.

2:33 pm – Rep. Sample asked if they has found people who had not properly retired. He said yes, they sent out several letters last week. He says they do not yet fully have the forensic ability to discover these and there will be more who retired over the last seven or eight years.

2:35 pm – Everyone seems to be choosing their word carefully, and indeed there may have been instances of honest mistakes, but what is not being said is many of the cases are simply and can be called nothing more than FRAUD.

2:37 pm – Ms. Gail Stone, Executive Director of the Public Employees Retirement System (APERS), is currently reporting. This is the system in which state legislators and other elected officials participate. They funding ratio is down to 78% from above 91%. The State Police Retirement System had a funding ratio was 55% but is being merged with APERS.

2:43 pm – Rep Summers asked for clarification. The average age of retirement from APERS is 62. Rep. Kerr is asking about the “double dipping” of elected officials and what APERS is doing to correct the problem. She said that under the direction of the Governor and AG, they are starting a review. Mr. Stone has asked the staff attorney to answer further. He said that they cross referenced retirees with list of elected officials and are sending letters to them asking them if they committed fraud on the taxpayers and that they have no other means for determining where to start. They have not requested any repayment yet.

2:49 pm – Lets get this straight. Someone that perhaps defrauded the government perhaps with the culpablity of their employer are being asked to self report if they had done so?

2:54 pm – Rep. Andrea Lea is asking specifically about elected officials and if they are considered for county employee for the purposes of retirement. The end result of the back and forth and legal speak responses was that the elected officials public retirement records can be kept secret. I have this radar that goes off when it appears something icky is going on and somebody is trying to cover for somebody. The alarm bells are sounding.

3:03 pm – Rep. Gaskill is asking why the drop rate had been lowered for the State Police Retirement. Apparently actuarial requirements and the fact that it is being merged with APERS caused this and why it has not been reconsidered.

3:07 pm – Rep. Ann Clemmer is asking why ANY information about ANY elected officed for ANY public compensation not public? Again, the staff attorney is clinging to a word in the rules that refers to the general retirement system “members” and forcing it to mean that it als applies to elected officials who are members. I wonder how many other places in the code or rules this twisted logic would have frightening impact.

3:11 pm – Senator Key asked a question by example. He said, assume a county judge did not resign their position, but “retired” and did not receive payment as a county employee for the prescibed period of time to receive retirement, then is “rehired” by the county and thereby getting retirement AND salary. He asked if APERS had any mechanisms for catching that. They do not and claim that they would need a massive staff increase to find that out.

3:15 pm – Sen. Key asked if that could also happen at the state level. Ms. Stone confirmed that it could.

3:18 pm – Rep. Kerr made the point that all the parties involved in reporting the potential fraud have a vested financial interest in concealing it. The attorney, Jay Wills, tried to redirect in that he does not believe in some grand conspiracy. (no one suggested a conspiracy and to even bring up such a straw man indicates he doesn’t want to really answer the question.) He went on to make vague statements about how Arkansans are trustworthy people who just wouldn’t do such a thing. So, an elected official, who may have intentionally defrauds the taxpayer (and the government agency who aided the official and is also fiscally vested) by double-dipping wouldn’t lie to the APERS officials.

3:26 pm – The Bureau of Legislative Research attorney is explaining their reason for not moving forward in some area. I didn’t understand the reason, but has something to do with separation of powers and how it would encroach on the executive branch. (The Governor). However, it appears they are following other avenues of investigation.

3:29 pm – Apparently the ARRA (Stimulus Package) is consuming time from Legislative Audit that is delaying working on this issue.

3:34 pm – I asked Mr. Wills why the form that has to be filled out upon retirement by officials is not used to identify those who might be double dipping he said that was what was used to send out the letter.

3:36 pm – I followed up by asking why they could not be cross referenced to the records of elected officials and their terms of office to identify the “improperly retired”. He replied that they do not have the staff to go to every county to get that information.

3:45 pm – Mr Wills clarified that the letters were sent from a cross reference within their database. I pointed out that they also could check the retirement date against the elected officials term of office and suggested that they have another method of identifying the “improperly retired” elected officials. He agreed.

3:47 pm – Rep Carnine is pointing out that the database and related software perhaps needs to be upgraded.

3:48 pm – Mr. Stone pointed out that this problem is not unique to Arkansas and other states are also dealing with this sort of thing.

3:49 pm – Consulting actuary contract considered and approved.

3:51 pm – Meeting adjourned.

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