Arkansas Legislative Council – November 20, 2009
Posted on November 20th, 2009
Date & Time: Friday, November 20, 2009 at 9:00 AM
Location: Room 171, State Capitol
Committee Information: Members on Committee
Agenda
Attachments
The Council was established by Act 264 of 1949 to collect data and information upon which legislative decisions will be made during regular session of the General Assembly. The Bureau of Legislative Research of the Legislative Council is a service agency within the legislative department of government. All members of the General Assembly have access to the Bureau of Legislative Research. The Legislative Council is the supervisory committee for the Bureau of Legislative Research, the Council coordinates the activities of the various interim committees and through the various committees provides legislative oversight of the executive branch of government. The Council consists of 36 regular members which is comprised of 20 House members and 16 Senators. In addition there are 24 ex-officio voting members and 5 ex-officio non-voting members.(A.C.A. 10-3-301)
9:00 am – Meeting called to order by Chairman Maxwell. Minutes from previous meeting approved.
9:05 am – The current budget is about $18 million below the forecast that was revised recently. The budget is $107 million below the forecast from the session this last spring.
9:10 am – Senator Kim Hendren asked about the $120 million debt the State of Arkansas has to the Federal governement for Unemployment Program.
9:12 am – Rep. Andrea Lea asked for a report to verify that programs created by the cigarette tax are being funded as promised.
9:13 am – Rep. Reep asked if the Bureau of Legislative Research’s budget outlook compares favorably with those of the current administration. Mr. Richard Wilson stated that the BLR forecasts are not as optimistic but did not differ by much.
9:17 am – Sen. Malone presented the Administrative Rules and Regulations Standing Committee report. Of note was the fact that the committee continues to be asked to review rules and regs that have already been implemented.
9:20 am – Sen. Glover presented the Charitable, Penal, & Correctional Institutionals standing committee report. It appears that the post-conviction conditional bonded release program is being seriously considered as an option to ease prision overcrowding.
9:22 am – Sen. Jeffress presented the Claims Review standing committee report.
9:26 am – There was no report from the Game and Fish/State Police standing committee. Rep. Roebuck presented the Higher Education standing committee report. Rep. Flowers asked for confirmation of activity on a previous question. Sen. Hendren asked questions about distance learning and remediation. He wanted to know if we hold the schools accountable. Rep. Roebuck said that it is not on the K-12 report card, but it now very much has the committees attention.
9:30 am – Sen. Steele presented the Hospital and Medicaid standing committee report. His report dealt largely on the grants and cuts associated with the money from the cigarette tax. It seems that the automatic defibrulator for schools was a significant part of the cut. Apparently the schools are required by law to place AEDs anyway. [Interesting unfunded mandate.] Sen. Steele made the point that the funding for this was placed in a B category in revenue stabilization. Rep. Andrea Lea made the point that she is disappointed that the legislature enacted a tax for these and it was not spent for the promised purposes.
9:39 am – The Litigation Oversight Reports does not have a report this month. Rep. Maloch presented the Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review report.
9:40 am – Rep. George presented the Policy Making standing committee report.
9:41 am – Sen. Horn presented the Review standing comittee report. Sen. Laverty reminded the ALC that the review commitee had formed a subcommittee to perform an intense review of those contracts funded exclusively by state dollars.
9:45 am – There are no special committee reports at this time.
9:49 am – We have moved ahead to item “I” on the agenda to look at the reports on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). This is what is known as the “Stimulus” Funds. I encourage my readers to look at the items I.1a and I.1b. in the Attachments
9:53 am – Senator Hendren asked how much this has cost per job. Apparently this works out to $216,000.00 per job. Sen. Hendrend said, “Sign me up for one of those!” Laughter. It was reported to us that some of that money was for additional unemployment benefits. Sen. Hendren stated that staff had informed him minutes ago that our debt to the Federal government is now probably closer to $250 million.
9:57 am – Rep. Andrea Lea asked what portion of the jobs created were government jobs or created in private industry. She was informed that there was no way to determine that.
10:01 am – There is some discussion about how the federal government has dictated how the stimulus funds are spent. Apparently a large portion of the fund cannot be spent in a way to create jobs.
10:04 am – Sen. Kim Hendren is asking about an inadvertent rule that prohibits private school students from getting the H1N1 vaccine through the Dept. of Health.
10:08 am – Committe adjourned.
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