Arkansas Legislative Council Personnel Subcommittee

December 18, 2024

 

Senator Breanne Davis All right, members, we're going to call this meeting to order. Thank you. Welcome. Thank you all for being here today. We've got a pretty short agenda. So hopefully this won't take too long. But before we get started, I want to turn the mic over to my co-chair, Representative Mark Berry.

 

Representative Mark Berry Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chairman. And I have to say, since this is my last meeting, co-chair of the Personnel subcommittee, I want to say thank you to my wonderful co-chair, Senator Davis. She has just been just awesome to work with. And I appreciate her and I appreciate Tony and the staff and BLR and everybody and Miss Kay. I know you're just jumping through hoops all the time, but we really appreciate that, and the members of the committee and everyone behind back there because you're the ones that really take care of our state employees. And I a truck passed me on Interstate 40 the other day and on the back of the truck, it said, our drivers are our most precious cargo. And I thought, you know, that goes with state government also. Our state employees are our drivers and they're the ones that's pushing this cargo called state government down the road every single day from the GS1's on up. And we need to make sure that we take care of them. We recruit them and try to retain them until they retire. And we do that through pay allowances, benefits and treating them with dignity and respect. And I wish we had more people here for the committee meeting today to hear those comments because sometimes we lose sight of exactly what our precious cargo is, and it's those state employees. But thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you, committee.

 

Senator Breanne Davis Thank you. I appreciate those remarks. All right. We will move to item B.

 

Staff Thank you, Madam Chairman. Item B is a request for a special compensation and recruitment plan for the Department of Veterans Affairs. This request will require approval from ALC. The agency is requesting the opportunity to provide $3,000 special compensation awards to members of their maintenance staff who oversee the veterans homes in Fayetteville, in North Little Rock, and the veteran's cemetery. OPM has recommended the plans.

 

Senator Breanne Davis Do we have any questions? All right. We have a motion to approve. Do we have a second? Second. All right. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed, no. Motion carries. Item C.

 

Staff Madam Chairman, Item C is a miscellaneous federal grant request for a new grant position at the State Crime Lab under the Department of Public Safety. The Crime Lab is requesting the forensic administrator title through a grant from the U.S. Department of Justice to help eliminate the DNA backlog. Peer has already reviewed the added appropriation and the establishment of the position. Personnel is tasked only with reviewing the title associated with the position. OPM has recommended the requested title.

 

Senator Breanne Davis All right. Seeing no questions or comments, we have a motion. Do we have a second? Second. Any discussion? All those in favor, please say aye. Opposed no. Motion carries.

 

Staff Madam Chairman, Items D and E are reports from the Department of Higher Education for their provisional positions in the most recent Personnel actions taken by state agencies to provide special entry rates, labor market rates in the first round of employees receiving these special compensation awards. And there's no action to be taken on those. They are reports only.

 

Senator Breanne Davis Okay. Representative Lane Jean, you are recognized.

 

Representative Lane Jean I want to be recognized at the end of the agenda.

 

Senator Breanne Davis Okay, great. Well, we are at the end of the agenda. We're done. So excellent timing.

 

Representative Lane Jean I want to make sure. I've got a question for Ms. Kay. If you're not going to give me the answer, I understand that. Have you got any update on the pay plan?

 

Staff Yes, sir. We are very close. We are putting the finishing touches on it right now. The departments have had a chance to review some recommendations and come back with some concerns. And we're trying to address their concerns. And that should conclude pretty quickly here. We should have something for you very soon.

 

Representative Lane Jean Do you think we'll have this prior to January 13?

 

Staff We can certainly work towards that goal. Sure.

 

Representative Lane Jean All right. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.

 

Senator Breanne Davis All right, members, before we adjourn, I just want to say thank you, Representative Berry, for all your work. It's been a really good year and a half. I feel like we've been on the same page on a lot of things, but I just appreciate your insight and experience that you were able to lend to this committee and the work that we do, talking through how we pay our state employees and and not just that, but incentives and how we add value to them in wanting to stay with the state. So thank you so much for all your work and your time. And I know you will be missed not just by me, but all of us here in Little Rock and our state employees. So thank you. All right. With that, this meeting is adjourned.