House Agriculture, Forestry, and Economic Development Committee
February 5, 2025
Representative Roger Lynch [00:00:00] You ready to present your bill? Please introduce yourself.
Representative Trey Steimel [00:00:14] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Trey Steimel, District 2 state representative. I have in front of you here a bill that's a pretty simple and straightforward bill. It requires surveyors to make contact with the poultry farmer before entering the farm. And they also have to follow the biosecurity protocols that are required at the time of entry. The reason for this bill is to protect our poultry farmers from the spread of devastating avian influenza and other diseases that could lead to catastrophic flock loss. So with that, I will take any questions. And I will also start right quick with there's really no opposition to this. This is some common sense legislation that we need to pass.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:00:59] All right. Committee, any questions? No questions. All right. Representative, are you ready to close for your bill?
Representative Trey Steimel [00:01:09] I'm ready to close my bill.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:01:12] Anybody in the audience with to speak for or against? We didn't have anybody sign up. All right. Now you can close.
Representative Trey Steimel [00:01:18] All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. I will close with this is we did define a commercial poultry operation. We don't want backyard chicken farmers to be able to potentially kick surveyors off the property. So it does define it as commercial poultry operation and a building a 5,000 square feet or more. So thank you. With that, I would ask for a good vote.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:01:39] All right. Do pass. All right. All in favor say aye. Opposed. Congratulations.
Representative Trey Steimel [00:01:47] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, committee.
Representative Jeremiah Moore [00:02:36] Representative Lynch, you're recognized to present your bill.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:02:39] All right. Roger Lynch, District 60. The bill you have before you, first, we need to approve an amendment. Added a co-sponsor. And I redacted the last three lines of the original bill.
Representative Jeremiah Moore [00:03:00] Now that everybody's had a chance to review the amendment, are there any questions for Mr. Lynch? Seeing motion do pass, all in favor say aye. All opposed.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:03:12] All right. So we passed this bill last session. It's a bill to put some structure around how eggs are retailed. And if we created a little bit of an anomaly that we didn't expect. And basically what was happening if we had one cracked egg in a carton, you had to throw the whole carton away. You couldn't repackage it. So this takes care of that.
Representative Jeremiah Moore [00:03:36] Representative Lynch is open for questions. Does the committee have any questions? Seeing none, you're recognized to close for your bill.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:03:45] Closed for the bill. Would like to see a do pass.
Representative Jeremiah Moore [00:03:55] Having a do pass motion, all in favor, say aye. All opposed? Congratulations, Mr. Chair. As amended. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:04:12] Thank you. All right. Let's start with HB 1372.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:04:40] Thank you. Chair. I'd like to speak about all of them, and then I will present each one individually. But they all go together as a packet. And I think for the committee. And for brevity, it might be easier for me to just kind of explain them as a package. Is that okay? Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I don't know if you all recall, but last session we actually passed these bills out of this committee, passed the floor. Pass them out of Senate committee unanimously. Then they unfortunately died on the Senate floor.
It was the end of session. I think there was some confusion about them. I failed to prepare my Senate sponsor properly. And so that's on me. And it was the end of session, and there was a lot of other things going on, and so higher priorities. But I'm coming back early in the session with these pieces so that we can do it again. And so that's just kind of the history of the bill.
But now kind of to explain what these are for those who don't know, Right to Start is a pro entrepreneurship group that works with governments, state government, city governments to try to foster entrepreneurship in the areas that they work. And one of the areas that they identified is Arkansas as a place to help improve entrepreneurship. So really there's two bills right here, two types of bills. I have the encouragement bills to award 5% to new businesses.
And then I have reporting bills. On the reporting bills, they just simply say that we would like the legislature and the governor's office to receive a report about how much funds and grants and things are going to new business, which we've defined as a business in the first five years. It's good for us to get a good kind of barometer on how our entrepreneurs are doing in Arkansas. How has the state impacted that? So once again, it's just reporting. Nothing else is required.
The other is the encouragement of funds. And I think this first bill is to encourage the use of 5% of those funds going to new businesses. Now, the reason why it's encouraged, not required, is because obviously getting that number might be hard, especially if you're maybe a department that only has one grant that year. But I think a lot of us who have been on ALC and Peer and Budget, a lot of times we see the same names over and over again. A
nd when you talk to some entrepreneurs, they'll talk about the fact that because sometimes they're not able to receive government contracts or feel like they're able to compete, that they don't even apply. But for some entrepreneurs, when they are able to get a contract or a grant or things like that from the state, it's game changing. There is an individual who when these policies were adopted in Indiana, was a lawn care company, was able to get a contract to do graveyard landscaping. Because of that, he was able to go to a bank and receive a loan because he had something that show that he was reputable. Because of that, he was able to grow his business. Now he mows the field for NFL teams.
I mean, that's how much his business grew just by having that lucky break, I would say. But I don't think it needs to be luck. I think Arkansas, we want to foster entrepreneurship. I mean, we've seen businesses like Walmart and Tyson grow from being small operations to being large operations. And I think we can have more of those types of companies here in Arkansas. But I think the state can get reports that show how we're doing and helping that, but at the same time also just encouraging some of our divisions to give deference to new businesses that are early within the first five years. So that's kind of the gist of what these are.
Like I said, they're encouragements. They're not requirements. So, I mean, they could tell us to go pound sand, but I think it is good for us to say, let's give some people some shots or at least look at it. If we can hit that 5%, ideally, that'd be wonderful. If not, that's okay. But we as a legislature are saying we would like to see some of those people get put in the hopper. So that's the overall general gist of it.
This first bill, HB 1372, An Act to encourage the award of economic development funds to new businesses and businesses established in the previous five years. Like I said, it's an encouragement, 5%, but nothing's required. And so that's essentially what this bill is.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:08:40] All right. Questions by the committee? Representative Jean.
Representative Lane Jean [00:08:49] Thank you, Mr. Chairman. How much are we spending on it now? How much is 5% of the budget dollar wise?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:08:58] I don't have that number in.Front of me.
Representative Lane Jean [00:09:03] Department of Commerce in support of this? They're not here.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:09:07] I have not received any comments. They didn't comment on it last year at all. They seem neutral on. And I haven't heard from them since.
Representative Lane Jean [00:09:12] Okay. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:09:13] Representative Vaught.
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:09:17] Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I was trying to figure out about the last five years. Of course, I believe in entrepreneurship, and we've talked about this before. And I supported it before. My problem is, if it's less than five years, is there a more like-- do businesses of entrepreneurship make it past five years? The percentage of them, do you know that percent? Like I'd hate to give money to somebody and them not make it out of year one.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:09:53] So year three is typically the worst year for entrepreneurs. And so that's why I made it year five. Probably if they're in that 4 or 5, they probably got over the worst hump of it. Now granted they could find one that's only been in operation two. And like I said, if we're hoping that awarding funds to like an ADC program or something like that, the hope would be that they still are qualified people. It's not, hey, we're choosing this one over anyone else.
It is, these are two qualified people we like. ADC can say, you know what, though, I just feel more comfortable with this person. We've got a great relationship with them. We've seen their work. We're not going to take the risk. They could do that. There's nothing that prevents them from doing that. But if they have two of them all the same, they go, you know, let's give this one a shot because everything else is all equal. And that's just what we're saying we would like to see, that encouragement.
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:10:43] So kind of a follow up. Thank you, Mr. Chair. My next question would be, would a young farmer trying to get into agriculture, whether it be through flower gardening or whatever it might be, would they be able to apply for these funds, just like somebody who was doing craft beer?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:11:04] If whatever grant through AEDC that they, as long as they're meeting the current qualifications, yes they could. It doesn't change any qualifications for any existing grant programs or AEDC or anything like that. It's just saying it's encouragement of 5%. So if they for some reason don't qualify, this doesn't suddenly give them a way to get into that program.
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:11:22] Okay. So thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Representative Lane Jean [00:11:24] All right. Any other questions by the committee? Anybody?
Representative Chad Puryear [00:11:30] So how do we ensure the state's awarding these moneys to the best provider when there's that potential for preferential treatment of these certain organizations?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:11:38] Well, like I said, I mean, we are essentially saying that you still have to meet the current qualifications that are in place. We're not removing anything. It's just an encouragement of these who are qualified. Let's say you've got a grant and you've got two qualified applicants, they both have to be qualified. If for some reason that one that's a new business is not qualified, then it should not be considered compared to the one that maybe has been a vendor for us for the last 20 years.
But if it's all things equal and they are qualified and they can meet everything, and the state feels comfortable that they can execute and use that money properly, I hope that that is a consideration that we would like to see that go into. I mean, I understand we've got vendors around here that we use a lot.
But to me, I would say it always irks me when people say we've been getting this for 20 years and if we don't get it we're going to go out of business. The government's job is not to keep your business up and running. And I sometimes do think if we can grow the small business by being a helping hand, we should do it. But once again, it's an encouragement. It's not a requirement. They can tell us to go pound sand if they want to, but I do think it's proper for us to try to help develop our entrepreneurship ecosystem in Arkansas. And so I think this is a great way to do it.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:12:47] All right. Representative Wing.
Representative Carlton Wing [00:12:50] With the encouragement language and with the other two as well, and you can kind of address this for all of them, was there discussion on whether or not there should be a resolution, since there's really not anything other than just encouragement, rather than an actual bill?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:13:08] Well my track record of resolutions this session isn't great. But no, I presented this as an entire package. And the way they got drafted, they put in bills and I asked that question. And I just think having something in statue of encouragement would just be better, long lasting. Because of course, the resolution is only for that current General Assembly. This will be in statute for much longer than that. So that's kind of why, too, I think it's good. Because the feelings of the 95th are not necessarily the feelings of the 96th. And I don't think we want to run a resolution about this every two years. Does that answer your question?
Representative Carlton Wing [00:13:45] Yeah. I just was curious about what that discussion was like because this feels resolution=y.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:13:50] Yeah. And like I said, these bills I originally drafted two years ago. So some of these I'm really pulling back from memory. But I do remember that because the encouragement language is typically how we do resolutions.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:14:01] All right. Representative Cozart.
Representative Bruce Cozart [00:14:06] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hilton. Representative Pilkington, you may have mentioned this, but did you have an idea of overall impact that this would be or could be?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:14:19] I've got no data to say what type of impact that would be. Like I said, because it's an encouragement, things could actually remain exactly the same way and there'd be no impact. And of course, there's not increasing the amount of funds that any of these departments are getting or any of these grant programs are getting. It's still the same. I'm trying to think of a fund that this would fall into like a specific one. You know, we're still delivering the same amount. It's just saying, hey, there's a vendor, we would like you to have this in consideration of how much you're doing. But listen, if the committee would like me to pull down these encouragement ones and run them as resolutions, I can do that. If you would like that, I can try to get that data.
Representative Bruce Cozart [00:15:05] That's not what I'm asking. I am just trying to find out the impact. And is there a limit on how much these could pull out? There's no limit on the money that could actually be funded out of these, right?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:15:15] Well, the funds are already established. It doesn't change.
Representative Bruce Cozart [00:15:20] So the fund's there. That's just all that's there. That's what I'm asking. It can't get any larger than that.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:15:27] Yes, sir. I'm sorry, Representative Cozart.
Representative Bruce Cozart [00:15:31] That was my question. Thank you.
Representative Bruce Cozart [00:15:33] Representative Puryear. Representative Richmond.
Representative Marcus Richmond [00:15:41] I'll go ahead and say this, but I believe you just explained it, that the funds are already established and that this is just 5% of the established funds. Therefore, you really don't have a fiscal impact because that money is going to be spent.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:15:53] Correct.
Representative Marcus Richmond [00:15:55] All right. Thank you.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:15:56] And once again, I like to reiterate, whether they hit the 5% or not does not affect the amount of funds. Does not. No one is punished. Nothing. It's just like I said, it's just the encouragement. The hope is that we can incentivize entrepreneurs to actually go and apply for some of these programs because you hear a lot and they'll say, it always goes to the same big guys and we never get involved. It's not on this one, I think another one about contracts.
But they say it's the same three marketing firms time and time again. But I'm a little marketing firm our of Lonoke trying to make my way. And I could go after this small group. But a lot of times they just don't apply because they don't feel like there's a path for them. And so yeah, we can encourage these to actually give these people a look and say, hey, it'd be great that we hit our 5% goal. That'd be fantastic. But if they don't, once again, nothing happens. No reign of terror from the General Assembly occurs at its state agency.
Representative Marcus Richmond [00:16:51] Representative Unger.
Representative Steve Unger [00:16:55] Thank you, Mr. Chair. Representative, full disclosure, I'm a little bit nervous about the awarding part of this, but I do have a question with the reporting , which I'm interested in. Could the different reporting bills be rolled into a single bill? I like the idea of the reporting, because it does give you some sort of metric of how we're doing. Could these be bundled up to one thing?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:17:20] Yeah, actually it's interesting you bring that up. I had this very similar conversation with Representative Wing earlier today. Why were they not, when I create this language with the drafter, they put it out, I think just because it I think put it all, just put it simply in each bill. So it's to the exact category instead of one large one. But I would have really preferred just the one big one so I'm not having to present six different times for convenience for me.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:17:49] All right. Any other questions, committee? Seeing none, anyone from the audience like to speak for or against the bill? Representative Pilkington, you ready to close for your bill?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:18:00] I'm closed for my bill. Thank you. Thank you for the questions. I appreciate it.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:18:04] What's the will of the committee. Motion do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? All right. I think this next will go a little quicker.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:18:17] Hopefully.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:18:21] Should be HB 1373.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:18:28] This is the same one but it's with workforce development grants. So just different department but same, just encouragement, same as everything else.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:18:36] Okay. Any questions for the committee? Anyone in the audience like to speak for or against the bill? No one. Representative Cohen, are you ready to--
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:18:46] I'm closed for my bill, yes. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:18:49] Motion do pass. All in favor, say aye. Opposed? Congratulations.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:18:54] Thank you. Thank you, committee.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:18:55] All right, HB 1374.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:19:06] Yes. This is the one, an act concerning a report by the director of AEDC concerning contracts awarded to business and operations. Once again, this is just the reporting. This is the first reporting bill and it's from AEDC that we just ask the AEDC to provide us that report. And because we already have an Office of Entrepreneurship, I imagine that report would probably be compiled by that office.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:19:26] All right. Any questions? Would anyone in the audience like to speak for or against the bill? Do you have a question?
Representative Carlton Wing [00:19:34] Real quick one. Representative Pilkington, any fiscal impact at all? I mean, they're not going to have to hire anybody new for this report. This goes under the existing organization.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:19:45] Yeah. They can do this with the information they have.
Representative Carlton Wing [00:19:48] Good deal.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:19:48] All right. Any other questions? All right. You ready to close for your bill?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:19:53] I'm closed for my bill. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:19:55] What's the will of the committee? Do pass. All right. All those in favor say aye. Opposed. All right. Congratulations. All right, HB 1374.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:20:07] This is a similar bill. It's reporting, but this is not from AEDC. This is actually from the secretary of the Department of Commerce, which often deals with new businesses.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:20:20] Which one are you on? 75. I'm sorry. I got lost in the shuffle. And so did you.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:20:30] Sorry. Yeah, yeah. This is just the same as the AEDC report, but it's the Secretary of Commerce report. So same bill, just another report.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:20:39] Any questions by the committee? No questions. Anyone in the audience to speak for or against the bill? All right. Representative Pilkington, are you ready to close for your bill?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:20:49] I'm closed for my bill.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:20:50] All right. What's the will of the committee? I have a do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? All right, 1376.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:20:59] Thank you, Committee. I appreciate the vote. This one is to encourage state agencies to award a portion of state contracts to our small businesses. So the other one was grant funding. This is on state contracts. But once again no one's getting preferential treatment. It's just an encouragement that we try to get that 5%. But if we don't, no issue. And once again they have to be qualified for it to begin with. So no one's getting a leg up over a more qualified vendor.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:21:23] Questions by the committee? Anyone in the audience like to speak for or against the bill? No. Representative Pilkington, ready to close for your bill?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:21:32] I'm closed for my bill. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:21:33] All right. What's the will of the committee? Do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Ayes have it. HB 1377.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:21:48] Thank you, committee. HB 1377 to require a report concerning economic development funding. Once again, it's a 5% not required. Just an encouragement. I'm sorry. I pulled the wrong one. Sorry. Sorry guys, I pulled the wrong one. I'm even getting confused. An act to require a report concerning economic development fund. So once again, it's just another report we're requiring on when we give out economic development funds through AEDC. That report comes back to us and we can see how many went to entrepreneurs. So very similar to the other reports.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:22:29] Questions from the committee? No questions. Does anyone in the audience have one?
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:22:37] Representative, can you go down to page-- let me see what page it is on. Page two. Before, it said less than five years. This one says that provides services to Arkansas-- I thought it was just for brand new businesses. I take it back. I'm sorry. I withdraw my question. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:23:00] All right. Anyone in the audience like to speak for or against the bill? All right. Representative, you ready to close?
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:23:07] I close for my bill. Thank you. Thank you.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:23:08] All right. What's the will of the committee? Do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Congratulations.
Representative Aaron Pilkington [00:23:15] Thank you. Thank you, committee. Appreciate it. Thank you for the discussion.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:23:22] All right. Representative Cooper, are you ready? Introduce yourself and present your bill.
Representative Cameron Cooper [00:23:41] Cameron Cooper, District 57. Committee, you have HB 1385. This is a very simple bill. If you look at it, it's just one page. I love these one page bills. I'm sure you all do as well. This is a constituent driven bill. It requires notification to members of the General Assembly when the Oil and Gas Commission is holding a public hearing for a permit or a project in our districts.
I modeled this idea after what the Department of Transportation does. Y'all are familiar with the letters we get from the Department of Transportation when there's a highway project in our district. They send us a letter detailing the project and where they're having a public hearing, the date and time of the public hearing. They ask us to share that information with our constituents. So that's the idea that I have for this bill. This bill would require the Oil and Gas Commission to do the same thing.
You may be asking, why do I want to do this? Well, there's a reason for this. I mentioned this is a constituent driven bill. Last year, the Oil and Gas Commission permitted a wastewater disposal well in my district. My district lies in the Fayetteville Shale. In this particular well, it's for the disposal of production water from the natural gas wells. What made this an issue from my constituent is that it's located in a moratorium area for this type of well. If you remember, a decade or more ago, there were several earthquakes in north central Arkansas, and it was thought that they could be tied to these wells. So the moratorium was put in place.
If I understand correctly, from the Oil and Gas Commission, this was an administrative moratorium. It just meant that the director wouldn't automatically grant permits for these disposal wells. It required for there to be a public hearing before the Oil and Gas Commission. So it wasn't a full moratorium. It was just an administrative moratorium. Maybe even greater concern to my constituents, in this area there is a recognized geologic fault line very near the location of this well, a fault line that was tied to earthquakes back in the 1990s. The Oil and Gas Commission held a public hearing, and they granted the permit.
And while the commission did post the legally required notice of a public hearing in the newspaper, my constituents in the area didn't know anything about it until the permit had been granted and the construction had began on the well. Had they known there was a public hearing, they would have attended the hearing and strongly voiced their opposition. As I mentioned, the hearing was posted in the newspaper as legally required, but we know newspaper readership continues to decline across the state and across the nation. And really, who's looking at classified ads looking for notices of public hearings anyway?
This bill would just provide another avenue for our constituents to be informed. When we, as members of the General Assembly, receive notice of the public hearing, we can easily share that information with our constituents to ensure that they know about the hearing and have an opportunity to attend or enter a public comment. This bill is about transparency and good government and ensuring that the people are well informed of the issues that may directly impact them and their property.
I did speak with the director of the Oil and Gas Commission. They were not supportive or opposed to it. They just wanted clarification on what kind of notifications we wanted. The bill specifically states that it would be a notification for a project or a permit that is located in the member's district. So they had a question about some public hearings they have to do on fees or fines, that they have to do on infractions. And it wouldn't cover things like that because that wouldn't be tied to a permit or a project in our district that's tied to oil or gas drilling. I hope I explained that good. Open to any questions.
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:27:41] All thank you, Mr. Chair. So you spoke to the newspaper in the classified. So are they going to email? Is email going to be sufficient? They're going to email people and let them know? Or are you wanting them to handwrite something?
Representative Cameron Cooper [00:27:58] I'm not trying to change the required posting in a newspaper. I'm not trying to change that at all. I'm just asking that they notify members of the General Assembly in addition. And an email will be sufficient. I think they can work that out. I personally think it would be a good idea to send us a letter like the Department of Transportation does.
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:28:19] But an email you said would be sufficient if not. In writing? No, that's why-- I don't check my mailbox here very often, as you might notice. So that's why I'm asking.
Representative Cameron Cooper [00:28:32] The letters from the Department of Transportation come to my home address. You may have that set up differently .
Representative DeAnn Vaught [00:28:38] Okay. Thank you Mr. Chair.
Representative Cameron Cooper [00:28:40] And in writing, I mean, is email considered in writing? I don't know the answer to that.
Representative Roger Lynch [00:28:47] No, it's not. All right. Any other questions by the committee? Anyone in the audience wish to speak for or against this bill? Representative Cooper, you ready to close? All right. What's the will of the committee? Do pass. All those in favor say aye. Opposed? Congratulations. All right. That is the end of the list. Does anyone have anything else they wish to bring before the committee while we're here? No? All right. We're adjourned.
