Joint Energy Committee

January 20, 2025

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:00:00] ...organizational meeting of the Joint Committee on Energy. Thank you all for coming. Our agenda says I will introduce Representative Gramlich as our vice chair and Senator McKee as our Senate vice chair. And of course, former speaker Shepherd is our House chair. So I want to welcome all of y'all. And our staff, most of y'all know Michelle Nelson, who's been with us a good while. Cathy Lett is our committee staff. And I guess she's in the room. But Alex Stevens is our attorney, and Alex always does a great job. 

This is an announcement. Y'all are supposed to know this, but some of y'all maybe don't or forgot, the green folders, leave those at your desk or at your seat and the staff will keep those updated. So don't take them away. You won't have all the goodies you need when you come to the next meeting. So any information you need related that, Michelle and Cathy will be glad to provide that to you. 

Since I don't know who all is here with what agency I'm going to ask one by one and y'all just kind of queue up gently. Those who are with different entities and agencies or organizations that are involved in energy issues, I would like to recognize y'all. And so we'll just start. Well, I'll start with Jack. Would you just stand up and say who you are and then we'll go counterclockwise around the room so people will know. [Audience Introductions]

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:04:38] Okay. Mr. Speaker, should we let our members of the committee introduce themselves? Let's do that. We'll start on the left. Start with Senator McKee and go around and just briefly-- we know most of you, but those of you that are new we want to talk about where your district is just so we know what part of the state you're from. Go ahead.

 

Senator Matt McKee [00:05:00] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Senator Matt McKee. I represent a large part of Hot Springs, Garland County, North Garland County, Hot Springs Village, north and northwestern Saline counties all the way up to the Pulaski County line. Glad to be on the committee.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:05:14] Senator Clark.

 

Senator Alan Clark [00:05:16] Thank you, Mr. Chair. I represent Senate District 7. Alan Clark. I represent Senate District 7, which is right next to Senator McKee's district. I have Eastern Garland County, South and West Saline County, Northern Grant County, and almost all Hot Spring County. This is my second time in the time that I've been here ,going on 13 years, to serve on Energy. 

I wish I could have been on it every time. It's a difficult selection with the other choices, including Children and Youth that I have. But I learned so much on this committee last time. You don't learn it on the news. And getting to talk to scientists and getting to talk to industry experts that I didn't know existed and the confidence that I have in knowing that I know what I'm talking about and the stuff around me is crap makes this a great committee to be on.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:06:17] All right. Thank you, Senator.

 

[00:06:18] [Introduction off-mic]

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:07:05] Yeah. Everybody turn your mic on. You're on tv.

 

Representative Steve Unger [00:07:09] Steve Unger, District 19. I live in Springdale. I represent South Springdale, West Springdale, all of and a little bit of Fayetteville and a little bit of Tontitown.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:07:19] Representative Torres.

 

Representative Randy Torres [00:07:22] Representative Randy Torres with District 17, Siloam Springs, Gentry and Springtown. And this is my first week. Glad to be on this committee.

 

Representative Richard McGrew [00:07:33] I'm Richard McGrew, District 85 in Hot Springs. I represent West Garland County, Hot Springs Village, Mountain Pine, Jessieville. This is my first time on the committee. My career was in the electrical field and I'm glad to be here.

 

Representative Cameron Cooper [00:07:51] Representative Cameron Cooper, District 57. I represent the western half of White County, East third of Faulkner County and northwest corner of Lonoke County.

 

Representative Steve Hollowell [00:08:03] Representative Steve Hollowell. I represent District 37, which is parts of Poinsette, parts of Cross and St. Francis counties.

 

Representative Rick Beck [00:08:12] Representative Rick Beck. My district is Conway County and a large portion of Van Buren County. And I've served on this committee a few times, and it's good to be back.

 

Representative Rick Beck [00:08:28] Representative Ron McNair. I represent Boone, South Boone County, District 5, my sixth term in the House. And I think I've been on this all of them. I think. But I enjoy it. Great committee.

 

Representative David Whitaker [00:08:44] Representative David Whitaker,House District 22, which is everything in Fayetteville west of Garland Avenue out to nearly Wedington Woods, the entire city of Farmington right up to the gates of Prairie Grove. This is my first time on this committee after a dozen years in technology and ready to go to the next frontier.

 

Representative Zack Gramlich [00:09:09] Hello, My name is Zach Gramlich. I represent Central Fort Smith, District 50. I was an alternate last year, and I'm happy to be on the committee this year.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:09:18] Vice Chair Shepherd, do you have any comments?

 

Representative Matthew Shepherd [00:09:21] No comments.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:09:22] Okay. I think most people know who this guy is. So thank you all for being here. I don't have a whole lot to say today, but I do want to say that you have picked an interesting time to serve on this committee, and I'm honored to chair it at this important time. One of the things that I have as a general goal and certainly want your input on it is I believe the state of Arkansas should have a stated energy policy, and I don't think we do. We got some good ideas, but I think we need to set some priorities. And so when we're out here working on different legislation, we actually have those priorities. 

And I'm glad our folks involved in the lithium situation, as well as our utilities, our regulators are here because all those things have to work together. The lithium thing is a very new thing for Arkansas. I remember when all our phones had NiCad batteries, which is why they didn't work very well. But obviously, the lithium development in south Arkansas is a tremendous economic boost for our state. And a lot of that will be coming through this committee and any legislation or issues to do with that. So I'm thrilled to have all of y'all on the committee. 

And at this time, I'd like to ask if there's any questions of any committee members just for the chairs or to the staff.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:11:01] I'm sorry. Who else came in from the governor's office, Jack? Have her come. Come on, Rachel. Don't be shy.

 

Rachel Smith [00:11:19] Sorry. I snuck in at the last minute. I'm Rachel Smith from the governor's office. I cover agriculture, energy and policy, so I'll be covering Joint Energy during session and beyond that as well. Look forward to working with y'all and having a productive session.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:11:34] Thank you, Rachel. Thank you, Jack, for making sure we recognize her. Any questions? Senator Hickey?

 

Senator Jimmy Hickey [00:11:43] Yes, sir. Mr. Chair, just for clarification. Do we have any type of joint rules on this or what's our procedure?

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:11:49] I'll ask Michelle. She said we didn't have rules for the committee last time and at this moment I'll defer to our House chair as well. If it ain't broke, don't fix it. If something comes up, we need to adopt some rules, I'm confident we'll deal with that. And I would encourage anybody that has suggestions on that to get with us. But like I said, Jimmy, if it ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

Senator Jimmy Hickey [00:12:18] Like I said, just needed clarification.

 

Senator Mark Johnson [00:12:19] Thank you, sir. Any other-- I had a professor once that said, Questions, comments or complaints, and I probably use that from time to time. If not, I want to thank all of you for doing this. Of course, as you know, as a joint committee, we don't have regular meetings, but I think as legislation is being introduced, we may find ourselves in a need to find a little niche in the calendar where we all can count on when this committee is going to meet. And I assume we'll still stay in 171. This will be our regular meeting room so one less reason you have to find your way through the tunnel or cross the street to get to Big Mac. So if nothing else, well, if there's no other comments or questions, we are adjourned.