[{"_1":2,"_98":-5,"_99":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4,"_26":27},"root",{"_5":6,"_17":10,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":10,"_23":-5,"_24":-5,"_25":10},"user",{"_7":8,"_9":10,"_11":10,"_12":-5,"_13":-5,"_14":15,"_16":-5},"roles",[],"isAuthenticated",false,"isPremium","planName","subscriptionStatus","featureFlags",{},"insightsBudget","isDevelopmentHost","userPreferences",{},"recaptchaSiteKey","6LcvOJcUAAAAAHsB-gPGfGktcRlKpH7OTIU_dMTD","isImpersonating","impersonation","affiliateStatus","isFreedomPortal","routes/v2/article/layout",{"_28":29,"_30":31},"notFound",true,"relatedArticles",[32,76,87],{"_33":34,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":40,"_41":42,"_43":44,"_45":46,"_47":48,"_49":50,"_51":52,"_53":54,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":60,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":66,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},"mediaId",6118880,"mediaKeyId","2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b","parentId",2715553,"title","Votes at a glance: actions taken in the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee","audioSeconds",1013,"startMs",1041000,"endMs",2054000,"viewUrl","/Search/View?dp=1&key=2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b&start=1041&end=2054","thumbnailUrl","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b/thumbnail_1041000.jpg","articleUrl","/articles/6118880/Arkansas/Votes-at-a-glance-actions-taken-in-the-Public-Health-Welfare-and-Labor-Committee","mediaUrl","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6118880-0ae3be0f74fa93feef421df06c597cfd/orig.mp4?Expires=1771174537&Signature=Bd~ShxD8MrGsRDbc9B-92wHqEmLMeuiMWveeXYt3WwfVb9M9ecujQmLdGXvR8sNvG~BkAEPB~toM2VXuh4JlgfY4f2rwMMFz8GGxQICg5IG1b0mKCLp6~Qlcbv00rKa~h0SBZmjFNmQRoy5vGQrAemT9oWwWTAMQMMbTdrQfNNxKSNHjA2e15cDRD6vZ9gaZYVToUuyJZOIsNuRxZYYv0k~1BdzFWynyXTEYjf9EG3rdtFBqC-OIy~F1oAaZ3bRnT-ydjpN~PAz2jvbbXqHhAtBGpIfd6IskFO9vN90fYa0jB-UkBIeB2S1UaPoG48RZ5JhjztCT~84E-gS4mX5Mxw__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","author","Arkansas Legislature","date","2025-03-20T00:00:00Z","article","The committee recorded the following formal actions during the meeting. Vote methods are noted when recorded in the transcript (voice vote vs. roll-call). Where the transcript recorded a roll-call, that is noted; most other actions were voice votes and no numerical tally was given in the record.

- House Bill 1004 (12-month postpartum Medicaid expansion, as amended to use CHIP HSI funds): Motion to pass carried; committee advanced the bill (voice vote).

- House Bill 1245 (behavioral registry under psychology board): Committee concurred in Amendment No. 1, Amendment No. 2, and Amendment No. 3 (voice votes) and concurred in the package of amendments.

- House Bill 1257 (senate amendment clarifying reimbursement to psychologists for psych techs): Committee concurred in the senate amendment (voice vote).

- House Bill 1767 (reassign EMS duties; create streamlined EMS committee): Motion to pass carried (voice vote).

- House Bill 1817 (training/authorization for pre‑K childcare providers to administer epinephrine): Motion to pass carried (voice vote).

- House Bill 1840 (sedation dentistry billing for waiver patients): Motion to pass carried (voice vote).

- House Bill 1841 (mechanism to hold county accounts and distribute EMS grants, tiers based on 911 call volume): Motion to pass carried (voice vote).

- House Bill 1530 (exemption for Arkansas Surgical Hospital from hospital provider tax program): Motion to pass did not carry; committee action did not advance the bill after roll-call (committee chair announced sponsor’s bills failed).

- House Bill 1142 (Restore Act — restorative reproductive medicine coverage / fertility awareness): Motion to pass carried (roll-call recorded in transcript).

- House Bill 1543 / 1751 (applicant volunteering to meet SNAP/TANF work requirements and related measures presented by Representative Underwood): Motions to pass carried (voice votes); amendments adopting sponsors were adopted when offered.

- Senate Bill 367 (small business revolving loan fund discontinuation — energy and environment): Motion to adopt technical amendment and motion to pass carried (voice vote).

- Senate Bill 278 (repeal of obsolete license provisions): Motion to pass carried (voice vote).

For several items the transcript recorded a roll-call (noted above) or a public roll-call was requested; most other actions were voice votes with the chair declaring the outcome. The committee did not record full numerical tallies for voice votes in the transcript.

Notes: committee members and witnesses frequently requested follow-up information for later legislative stages (DHS calculations, CMS waiver materials, and implementation details). Items that were advanced will require administrative follow-up (DHS, Department of Education, Department of Health, etc.) before implementation.","mediaType","Video","parentTitle","PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE March 20, 2025 10:00 AM","oneSentenceSummary","Summary of formal committee actions recorded on the transcript, listing each bill or amendment and the committee outcome as announced in the meeting.","taxTitle","PUBLIC HEALTH, WELFARE AND LABOR COMMITTEE- HOUSE, House of Representatives, Committees, Legislative, Arkansas","taxId",21192,"location","Arkansas","headline","","shortSummary",{"_33":77,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":78,"_41":79,"_43":80,"_45":46,"_47":81,"_49":82,"_51":83,"_53":84,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":85,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":86,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6118885,"Committee debates Arkansas Surgical Hospital exemption from provider tax; proposal fails after extended questioning",780,1274000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b&start=1274&end=2054","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b/thumbnail_1274000.jpg","/articles/6118885/Arkansas/Committee-debates-Arkansas-Surgical-Hospital-exemption-from-provider-tax-proposal-fails-after-extended-questioning","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6118885-4cd23d5a9fcce4788c65db0e6984a221/orig.mp4?Expires=1771174537&Signature=o~9vinHGRKJhICkSudQ-dxmxztKY2Bsp13ebXj9Pd-IfG6Hnyg0l5KjuHGyxx8qPR5ljy1X45Bg1eCwE5ouhfz7NCMcyUlHy5lcYvBc0puF-WTN4YiO~w9H5lCgx8CftOWYvc9x7b~UuBSTXSooh5NUuiwUTzf8WvDUcR1Dv7YDdUbhqVx~pe4cCM8LSiGxbZ3UNv3OhOIIVGWXFH~i9OA6Nqqi9S6tGvuq2ThnI4s-ukUnlF4Qt0Ht5JRtTNO-f8VXidAc5h8c~vFjYWvE-eEnhPNOfe9-63mw5pHe~GmAOpJ51b9zxxd0FbCClQeUN4aL0MXvSI2S8B4x7XJOWDQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","Representative Acre presented House Bill 1530, which would have changed the definition of “specialty hospital” under the hospital provider tax program to exempt Arkansas Surgical Hospital, an orthopedic and spine specialty facility, from the provider tax and associated supplemental payment calculations. Brian Fowler, chief executive officer of Arkansas Surgical Hospital, said the hospital had been offered an exemption when the program began and that the facility had paid into the tax for 15 years while seeking a safe exit now that program calculations and the tax cap have changed. Fowler said the hospital serves patients from every county in the state and pays nearly $2,000,000 in various state-related taxes.

Elizabeth Pittman, director of the Division of Medical Services at the Arkansas Department of Human Services (DHS), answered multiple technical questions about CMS processes. Pittman said DHS intends to pursue an automatic exemption under federal guidance (the P1/P2 test) if the state can demonstrate the statutory test is met and confirmed DHS had run numbers indicating they could submit for an automatic approval. She cautioned that she had not previously sought an automatic exemption with CMS and that the process would require DHS submission of P1/P2 waiver information.

Committee members repeatedly asked whether removing the hospital from the assessment would shift costs to other hospitals or jeopardize the supplemental payment program. Jody Entritt, executive vice president of the Arkansas Hospital Association, urged members to weigh risk and reward and warned that CMS’s approval of similar exemptions in other states had been followed by increased federal scrutiny of assessment programs. Entritt told the committee the hospital’s $1 million assessment (tax) would be absorbed by remaining hospitals if the exemption were granted and stressed that even small increases could be consequential for struggling rural hospitals.

Representative Acre and his supporters said DHS had confirmed the automatic-exemption test could be met and that precedent existed in other states. After extended questioning and a roll-call vote, the committee did not advance the bill; the chair announced the sponsor’s bills had failed at that point in the meeting.

Why it matters: Supporters framed the bill as correcting an original program design choice and creating a “safe exit” for a hospital they say never fit the original program. Opponents — primarily hospital association representatives and several members of the committee — warned that federal review could imperil the assessment/supplemental payment program and lead to funding shortfalls for other hospitals, including rural providers.

Outcome: Sponsor requested a favorable motion; after public testimony and a roll-call, committee action did not pass the measure.

","A bill that would have exempted Arkansas Surgical Hospital from the state’s hospital provider tax program provoked extended committee discussion about CMS waiver risk and potential effects on rural hospitals; the committee ultimately did not advance the measure.",{"_33":88,"_35":36,"_37":38,"_39":89,"_41":90,"_43":91,"_45":91,"_47":92,"_49":93,"_51":94,"_53":95,"_55":56,"_57":58,"_59":96,"_61":62,"_63":64,"_65":97,"_67":68,"_69":70,"_71":72,"_73":74,"_75":74},6118891,"House committee approves 12-month postpartum Medicaid expansion using CHIP HSI funds",0,3222000,"/Search/View?dp=1&key=2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b&start=3222&end=3222","https://assets.pipeline.soar.com/2715553-e10c4a6d0c958fe47c0e77686515fe4b/thumbnail_3222000.jpg","/articles/6118891/Arkansas/House-committee-approves-12-month-postpartum-Medicaid-expansion-using-CHIP-HSI-funds","https://secure.pipeline.soar.com/6118891-34935bb9283e81eb085d0fd629248e57/orig.mp4?Expires=1771174537&Signature=KCKL1vU9l50yLozdZpfnH-SxpXSwviflq~-PH0veYon6~llIzCQhIV8GxNQDzzi~-EnDV9mna5e85AUF1LcIvvIAc~fcqtwXHm1W1vMrEqOTtaSloyvHYyMEanBQqUZaEJyKu9JvrehWftAhNE7U5WiVUZ8uYyalgRGGDxEBH~Jgr8jRlrsgfTN03cFeY0MiTgpW-4D4TrsT0LbD~O9HSQNoWX7z6pDaQKE5aGS6EQm6UbNp0Ba-YPvg9GJ-fl~M8EG88MhG9j93vRz2qpZ1NdkHUtNne-Ew9IQtA0Zb1~5c3liCoPuNEjA40dkAJpoMrzEy2Qjw85LvpQCijCFmKQ__&Key-Pair-Id=KUT5TJCACFTXG","State Representative Aaron Pilkington, the sponsor of House Bill 1004, told the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee that the bill would extend postpartum coverage to 12 months for women up to 200 percent of the federal poverty level and that Arkansas is currently the only state that has not made that extension. Representative Aaron Pilkington, District 45, said Arkansas had seen coverage gaps that warranted action: “The most recent report actually showed that that's now increased to 4 out of 10 women in Arkansas.”

The amendment adopted before the committee hearing directs the state to use a portion of Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) Health Services Initiative (HSI) funds to cover the state share of the extended postpartum benefit. Pilkington said the amendment is intended to make the extension cost neutral for the state: “This approach is a cost neutral to the state requiring no new state dollars. The CHIP HSI fund has plenty of available funds for this.” He also explained the bill includes an auto-enrollment mechanism where appropriate to limit duplication and improve matching rates for coverage.

Three witnesses gave in-person support. Mackenzie Foreman, a licensed certified social worker and owner of Holding Space Counseling, testified about maternal mental health consequences when coverage lapses: “Medicaid coverage too often ends abruptly creating dangerous gaps in care.” Latoya Morgan, an educator in the Little Rock School District, described a personal loss she said was tied to gaps in postpartum care and urged committee members to approve the bill. Ben Washington, who identified roles with the Arkansas State Legal Justice Center and the Arkansas Public Policy Panel, said the proposal would help rural and vulnerable communities and repeated the sponsor’s cost-neutral characterization.

Committee members asked how federal approvals would be handled. Representative Bentley asked whether a waiver was required; Pilkington and witnesses confirmed the plan requires federal approval and that the state Department of Human Services would need to coordinate with the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) and HHS. Pilkington said the bill’s design — using HSI funds and preserving existing eligibility rules — was meant to reduce duplication and fiscal impact.

After closing remarks by the sponsor, the committee approved a motion to pass House Bill 1004 as amended by voice vote. The chair declared the bill passed and moved it forward in the process.

Why it matters: Supporters framed the measure as closing coverage gaps tied to poor maternal outcomes and greater risk of untreated perinatal mental health conditions. The sponsor and witnesses emphasized the change would not require additional state general revenue because it relies on a permissible use of existing CHIP HSI funds.

What the committee did next: Committee members advanced the bill to the next legislative stage with the amendment that authorizes use of CHIP HSI funds to fund the state share if federal approvals are secured.

","The Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee passed House Bill 1004 as amended to extend postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months for eligible Arkansas women by using CHIP HSI funds to cover the state share, a funding approach sponsors say will require no new state dollars.","actionData","errors"]

Article not found

Votes at a glance: actions taken in the Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee

Committee debates Arkansas Surgical Hospital exemption from provider tax; proposal fails after extended questioning

House committee approves 12-month postpartum Medicaid expansion using CHIP HSI funds