ALC Rules: Aug. 14, 2025

Senator Tyler Dees Members, I see 10 o’clock. I see a quorum. We’ll call this meeting to order. Thank you for being here. I want to remind the public to make sure if you wish to comment on any rules that you make your way to the comment section to sign up, be specific on the rule in which you wish to comment, and we’ll be taking up that sheet momentarily. So please make your there to sign up as needed. But to start off, if we could stand up, I’d love to recognize Representative Torres to open us up in prayer. [Prayer]

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you, Representative Torres, and thank you, members, for being here today and doing the work of the people. And to all the parents and families on the first few days of school, I hope it’s going well, hope it’s going well, and wish you grace on that front as well. So we’ll begin. We’ve called the meeting to order. Moving to Item B on the agenda. This is a report from the 2025 regular session, and Ms. Rebecca and our staff will be reading out on that report. We’ll ask questions on that. So, Ms. Rebecca. 

Staff Thank you, Mr. Chair. Rebecca Miller-Rice with the Bureau. I’m just going to do a brief overview of the report, but there is an introduction that has a little bit more information. In accordance with Arkansas law, this report was prepared and it identifies rulemaking that was specifically required by newly enacted laws from the ’25 session. 

There’s two categories of acts identified in the report. One are those clearly specifying required rulemaking. And two, those that reference rulemaking using what could be considered discretionary language, but also establishing a date certain for rulemaking, which could be construed to specifically require it. Each act has been further categorized by agency, and the sponsor has been identified. 

As you know, when a law does not provide a specific date for rule making, the final version of the rule from that session shall be filed with the Secretary of State on before June 1st of the year following session, or June 1, 2026. For any acts that did have a specific date established in the law, that date has also been indicated in the report. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you, Rebecca. Members, any questions on the 2025 report? Seeing none, I do need a motion to adopt this rule or this report. Motion. I need a second. We’ve got a second as well. All in favor, say aye. Likewise opposed, no. Motion has passed. 

All right members, we’re moving to C on the agenda. This is a report from the executive committee concerning emergency rule. Miss Rebecca, do we have details? That’s in the packet, correct? Okay, members, that information is in your packet. And without objection, that will be filed. Seeing no objection, that is filed. 

Members, moving to D, reports on the administrative directives. Let’s see here. So, members, the departments stand ready to answer any questions if needed. But really, frankly, this is a report saying there’s nothing to report. And so, I’m not seeing any questions from members on D. Then without objection, these reports will be filed. 

Alright, members, moving to E. Alright, this is our rules. And so we’ll have each agency come up and present their rules. So let’s go down the list. Let’s see, first I’m seeing Department of Transportation. You’re welcome to the table. As you’re making your way up, please hit your button so your microphone is turned on and introduce yourselves for the record. And you may begin. 

Steve Napper My name is Steve Napper and I’m attorney for the State Aid Street Committee. 

Steve Morgan My name is Steve Morgan. I’m the Assistant State Aid Engineer with ARDOT. 

Senator Tyler Dees You’re recognized. Please present your rule. 

Increasing funding for transportation projects

Steve Morgan The committee has voted to increase the funding for overlay projects, the street committee, from $300,000 to $400,000. As well as our design projects, increase that to $500,000 per project. We’ve had quite a bit of inflation the last couple of years. 

Senator Tyler Dees Members, any questions? You got off easy. Seeing none, without objection, the report is filed. All right, thank you. The rule is reviewed and approved. Okay, moving to number two on your agenda, Department of Commerce. You’re welcome to the table. All right, welcome to the table. You can hit your microphones and please go down and introduce yourself and you can proceed. 

Jennifer Emerson Good morning, Jennifer Emerson, Deputy Director, AEDC. 

Jake Windley Jake Windley, Director of Legislative Affairs, Department of Commerce. 

Becca Caldwell Becca Caldwell, Rural Services, AEDC. 

Clint O’Neal Clint O’Neal, Executive Director, AEDC. 

Senator Tyler Dees Welcome, please present your rule. 

Grant program changes: More money, open to Nonprofits

Jake Windley Thank you, good morning, members. This rule amends the community assistance grant program in two ways. First, the maximum grant award has been increased from $50,000 to $1.5 million. Second, the list of eligible organizations has been expanded to include nonprofits in good standing with the Secretary of State. 

The proposed rule is the permanent promulgation of an emergency rule that was in effect from April 5th to August 3rd. That period was necessary for AEDC to set up its own internal review procedures, intake processes, and to begin receiving applications so that we could process them in a timely manner.

 Public comment period for this rule ran from April 15th to May 15th, and no comments were received from the public. However, based on the number of applications we’ve received, I think it’s safe to say the changes have received universal support. Happy to take any questions. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you for the presentation. Members, any questions? All right, I see Representative Ladyman. 

Representative Jack Ladyman Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I’m over here. Actually, I’ve got a couple of questions. That’s a pretty good increase from 50,000 to 1.5 million. Were there projects that you could not fund because of that limitation of $50,000? And how many? And how long has that been a problem? 

Becca Caldwell Good morning. It was more for that grant program that we didn’t have the ability to fund nonprofit grant programs, and we were limited with the amount that we had. So we increased the cap to 1.5 because that $50,000 was not nearly enough to cover some of the need that we saw with the initial output of that grant program. 

Representative Jack Ladyman So, one more question, when you talk about nonprofits, can you give us an idea of what the guidelines are? There are a lot of nonprofits out there. So what’s the criteria for these nonprofits to be eligible for this funding? 

Jennifer Emerson They have to be in good standing with the Secretary of State’s office. And when they apply for this round, the application asks for how they’re going to use the money. It’s allowed to be used for programming and for any type of infrastructure needs. And so we have a committee that is looking at those and making sure that they are type of nonprofit that could actually undertake these projects, as well as looking at the legitimacy of those nonprofits. 

Representative Jack Ladyman So, I mean, are these limited to Arkansas nonprofits? 

Jennifer Emerson Yes, sir. 

Representative Jack Ladyman Are there any other limitations other than Arkansas folks? 

Jennifer Emerson There’s not a limitation to apply. No, sir.

Representative Jack Ladyman All right, thank you. 

Senator Tyler Dees I’m seeing Senator Rice. You’re recognized.

Senator Terry Rice Thank you, Mr. Chair. Can you give me some kind of background on what your program is that will spread this across the state hopefully? Sometimes we see things that get a little bottled up around larger areas. And I realize that’s where the population is. Can you get me some assurances it will be spread across the state?

Jennifer Emerson That is our intention to make sure there is a good geographical spread for the distribution of any awards for this program. The application period just ended at the beginning of this month, and so we’re still going through those applications to make that we have enough applications from certain areas of the state to be able to do so. I’m fairly certain that that’s not going to be an issue with this amount of applications we’ve received. 

Senator Terry Rice Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

Senator Tyler Dees Senator Blake Johnson, you’re recognized.

Senator Blake Johnson So was the appropriation increased or just the amount? 

Jennifer Emerson We received an appropriation, April or June, I’m sorry, I can’t remember off the top of my head, but we didn’t have an appropriation to begin with for this program. And so we received $15 million this time. 

Senator Blake Johnson Is that one-time money or recurring? 

Jennifer Emerson We know it to be one time money as of right now. 

Senator Tyler Dees  I have a question, similar train of thought, in one of the reports or one of the conversations it was said that there would not be a fiscal impact with this program. I guess that’s saying that the total amount potentially could increase for grants, but the draw of money, the bucket of money, is not changing. And that’s probably where the fiscal impact comes from. Could you talk to that a little bit? 

Jake Windley Yes, the total maximum amount that could be dispersed under this program hasn’t changed. We’ve just raised the cap on each individual award. And that’s to meet some of the needs we were seeing and also to combat the effects of inflation, increased cost of construction, et cetera, that we’ve been seeing. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you for that clarity. And will you give a little bit of commentary on the way the grants are reviewed and the process for applicants and how that’s decided upon? 

Jennifer Emerson Absolutely. We have an online application, so any applicant could go in and see how to apply and all of the rules and the necessary backup documentation. They would apply online, and then they would receive a link that is specific to them where they can upload the backup documentation like proof of being in good standing with the Secretary of State, any type of lease or deed or that type of documentation needed, proof of their matching dollars, and all of those type of backup documentation. 

And then we have an internal committee that will review each one to make sure that they’ve provided all of the necessary information. And then we will gather the recommendation committee discussion and then send that to our executive director and secretary of commerce for review. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you, Ms. Emerson. Members, any other questions? I see Representative Crawford, Cindy Crawford, here. 

Representative Cindy Crawford Thank you, Mr. Chair. So on this, what is the uh cutoff date for applying? 

Jennifer Emerson The deadline was August 1, this past August 1. It was opened May 19, I believe, or May 20, and until August 1 

Representative Cindy Crawford So what you’re doing is, because so many have applied, to be able to help most, you’ve asked for this increase then. 

Jennifer Emerson This was for the permanent rule. So we had the emergency rule in place prior to opening the application period. And this is to make the rule permanent for the change in the– applicant. Yeah, the 1.5 and the type of applicants. Yes. 

Representative Cindy Crawford All right, thanks. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you, members. Seeing no further questions, without objection, the rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you for being here today. All right, next, members, we’re going to E3, which is Department of Education. You’re welcome to join the table. All right, please turn your microphone on and identify yourself for the record. 

Education Rules

Moving First Connections program

Courtney Salas-Ford Good morning, Courtney Salas-Ford, Department of Education. We have three rules on the agenda this morning. The first one is our First Connections program under part C of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. This looks like a new rule, but is actually not. It was a rule formerly promulgated by DHS when the program was under them. Under Act 237, the LEARNS Act, Early Childhood was moved under the Department of Education. So they repealed the rule and we are just re-promulgating the rule under the Department of Education. But I’m happy to answer any questions on the specifics. Nothing in particular has changed other than, again, the overall governance of the program. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you. Members, any questions on A? The only question I have is staffing. With this moving from department to department, do you feel confident in the staffing and the team ready for that transition? 

Courtney Salas-Ford Yes. So that actually happened in ’23. I don’t know the exact number. I could get that for you. But we did take a large number of staff from DHS that was transferred to us. And so they were familiar with the program and are continuing. But of course, we always continue to evaluate our needs and make adjustments and changes as necessary. 

Senator Tyler Dees I see Representative Ennett. you’re recognized.

Representative Denise Ennett Thank you, Mr. Chair. Hi, Ms. Ford.  I have a question about this program. How does this program track developmental progress for enrolled children? 

Courtney Salas-Ford For rural children? 

Representative Denise Ennett Enrolled children.

Courtney Salas-Ford  So part C of IDEA governs children from birth to age 3. And so as students are taken to a daycare facility or a childcare facility, they will reach out to their local part C providers and do the necessary evaluations, provide them the therapies and supports that are needed through their childcare facility center or sometimes at home. 

They keep up with that information so that once the child turns 3, if they then go to, again, a different provider or one of our educational co-ops, then that support and therapy transitions to the new provider. So all that information is tracked, and by moving it under the department, that has enabled us to have a lot more continuity and a seamless transition when that child turns from age 2 to 3. 

Representative Denise Ennett Thank you. 

Courtney Salas-Ford You’re welcome. 

Senator Tyler Dees All right, members. I’m not seeing any other questions. Without objection, this rule is reviewed and approved. Move to B. 

Public School grading system

Courtney Salas-Ford Thank you. The second rule is our rules governing the public school rating system on annual school performance reports and the school recognition program, otherwise more commonly known as our school letter grades. So this is the rule that sets forth how we assign an A to F letter grade to our public schools. 

There were changes required because of Act 474 of 2025 regarding the indicators that we measure schools on. This sets forth those changes, how letter grades are calculated, and then addresses how performance dollars are awarded to schools based on their performance in achievement on assessments, growth, and career readiness. And I’m happy to answer any questions. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you. I’m seeing Majority Leader Blake Johnson. You’re recognized. 

Senator Blake Johnson Whenever I was reading through it, those indicators, it said ‘without limitation.’ Can you guys change that at will, or will those come before us if you go beyond that list? 

Courtney Salas-Ford So we do have some flexibility to make changes without changing the rule. If we wanted to add something entirely new and different, we would have to bring it back to you. We have business rules that are published on our website and go into even further detail for school districts to say, you know, there’s a part in here that talks about an automatic increase. And so the numbers, those very specifics, are in the business rule that is not promulgated before the legislature. We would, of course, make school districts aware of that and we make that public long before we implement it. But we did allow ourselves some flexibility in the rule. 

Senator Blake Johnson If it’s okay, chair, can I? 

Senator Tyler Dees Please. 

Senator Blake Johnson As hopefully these, all the indicators, increase and the scores go up, that you can change them all the way up to the, 90 is actually 90 and 90 to 100. But I didn’t see where it starts. Is that going to be evaluated whenever you begin this program or– you now, whenever I was in school, 90 was a 90, 100  was 100. And now then we got whatever this thing is. 

Courtney Salas-Ford With the chair’s permission, can I ask our Assistant Commissioner Hope Warsham to join me? And she oversees our accountability system and knows all of the details and can certainly answer that, I think, much better than I could on the specifics. 

Senator Tyler Dees Absolutely. You can come to the table and please identify yourself for the record. 

Senator Blake Johnson As a matter of fact, I never tried to make a 90, but I was always available to me as an aspiration. 

Nuts and bolts of grading system

Hope Worsham Good morning. Hope Worsham, Assistant Commissioner, Public School Accountability for the Department of Ed. So, what we did, we have been looking at the data so far to determine how many out of– every school has the opportunity to earn up to 900 points in our new system. 

And when we looked across the board, there were not any schools that were earning 90% of those points, which is not uncommon. We look at where are our students scoring now, where do we aspirationally want them to score? 

So that’s why we put the part in there about an automatic increase that, as we start seeing more schools earn more points, we would prefer for a school getting an A letter grade to earn 90% of those 900 points. It’s just right now we’re not at that place with where our data is. 

Senator Blake Johnson Can you tell me how close we are? 

Hope Worsham Right now, to earn an A, you have to earn approximately 60 to 70% of the points. And what we looked at is where are our schools scoring. And the top 10 to 15% of schools are earning somewhere between 60 to 70% of points right now. 

Senator Blake Johnson A 70 is a 90 now? 

Hope Worsham Well, I think that is the confusion, right, for people that a letter grade, because the law requires us to give a letter grade, and there’s a preconceived understanding of a letter grade in school is earning a certain percentage of points. That’s why we went through a very technical process with a national group to help us look at, where is the data following, where are the appropriate places to set cuts. 

But I do think that is a disconnect that we have. Our committee, when we worked with them, expressed that we need to be very clear to the public that earning a C letter grade means you are performing about where other schools in the state are performing, which currently means you’re earning, not 70% of the total 900 points. And yes, that is a disconnect. 

Senator Blake Johnson I’d have been a good student now. Thank you. 

Senator Tyler Dees All right, I see Representative Cavenaugh. You’re recognized. 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh Does the diversity of the school’s population weigh in on any of this? Is there any weight on that in the scoring? 

Hope Worsham There’s no weight on that. One of the major indicators in our formula is a growth model, and we are very careful to ensure that our growth model does not highly correlate with any particular demographic or socioeconomic. So that is one of the main reasons we have included that measure is so that it helps to balance out where we know we have high poverty, high minority. They are still able to show growth and show achievement equally. 

Representative Frances Cavenaugh Okay, thank you. 

Senator Tyler Dees All right, members, any other questions? All right, Representative Richardson, you’re recognized. 

Status: Teacher and Student Protection Act

Representative Scott Richardson Thank you, Mr. Chair. And with a little latitude, I’d like to change the subject just mildly. I got a constituent call this morning on Act 565 related to the 2025 session. Not to go into too many details, but apparently a child was removed from the classroom based on that law. And the parent had a lot of concerns around how that was implemented. And I’m just wondering when the rules for 565 are going to be promulgated and provided to the schools so they know how they’re going to be handling that. 

Senator Tyler Dees So that’ll be a 2025 law. And feel free to speak to that if you’d like to this morning. 

Courtney Salas-Ford Can you remind me what Act 565 is? Is that your law on student and teacher protection? 

Representative Scott Richardson Mine? 135 folks, but yes. 

Courtney Salas-Ford That you sponsored? 

Representative Scott Richardson Yes, yes, ma’am. That is the one that is the Teacher and Student Protection Act.

Courtney Salas-Ford Yeah, we are working on guidance for that. We actually don’t have rulemaking authority. But we are working on guidance and hope to have that out very soon for school districts, because, yes, we’ve received a lot of questions and we are trying to answer those, but hope to have something in written form for districts very soon. 

Representative Scott Richardson Wonderful. Thank you very much. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you. Members, any other questions? Seeing none, Item B, without objection, the rules are reviewed and approved. All right, you can move to your last rule. 

Human trafficking / sexual abuse prevention

Courtney Salas-Ford All right, and finally we have the rules governing child sexual abuse and human trafficking prevention. This was a section of Act 237 of ’23, the LEARNs Act, that requires public school districts and charter schools to have a human trafficking and child sexual abuse prevention program that meets our academic standards for health and safety. 

This is typically incorporated into many of our health classes in secondary or other just safety types of training. Sometimes it’s incorporated into like a physical education course. It’s up to the district how to incorporate that in there as long as they are meeting the standards. There’s also a section in here that prohibits addressing sexually explicit materials, including sexual reproduction, intercourse, gender identity, or sexual orientation before grade 5. And so we have put that in the rules. And I’m happy to answer any questions. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you, members. You’ve heard the description of the rule. Any questions? Seeing none, without objection, the rule is reviewed and approved. Thank you for your help today. 

Courtney Salas-Ford Thank you. 

Senator Tyler Dees All right, members, we’re moving to rule number four. This is the Department of Military, National Guard. Thank you for being here today. If you’ll turn your microphones on and identify yourself for the record. 

Brig. Gen. Brad Cox Brigadier General Retired Brad Cox. I’m chief of staff for the Arkansas State Military Department. 

Bryan Christian I’m Bryan Christian, the Chief Legal Counsel for the Arkansas Department of the Military. 

Major Bryan Sherman Major Bryan Sherman. I’m the current Arkansas National Guard Education Incentive Branch Chief. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you, gentlemen. You are recognized to begin to present your rule. 

National Guard Tuition Waiver

Bryan Christian So we’re here today to present an amendment to Rule 6 CAR 530, which governs the Arkansas National Guard Tuition Waiver program. This amendment is submitted directly in response to Act 14 and Act 826 of 2025 recently enacted by the Arkansas General Assembly. 

The National Guard Tuition Waivers program provides a tuition waiver for eligible members of the Arkansas Army and Air National Guard to attend state-supported and certain private institutions of higher education in Arkansas, as well as trade schools that offer post-secondary credentials and certificate programs tuition-free. 

This rule amendment reflects a significant expansion in both the types of educational programs that are covered and the scope of eligible institutions designed to increase recruiting, retention, and the professional development of our soldiers and airmen. The public comments for the rule were open on June 8 and lasted until July 8, and a public hearing was on June 17. And I’m happy to answer any questions. 

Senator Tyler Dees Thank you for your presentation of the rule. I want to start out and say thank you. This is a great rule. I love the opportunity to provide this benefit to the men and women who serve this great country in this great state. So I hope this is going to be well utilized and give more opportunities for private school and career tech training. So thank you for bringing this today. 

Members, any questions on this rule? Seeing none, thank you for the presentation, and without objection the rule is reviewed and approved. All right, members, we are moving now to Item F. All right, this is updates concerning rulemaking from the 2023 regular session. A representative from each agency is here and stands ready to answer any questions that you may have concerning the status of outstanding rules. 

Those agencies are listed under Item F of your agenda, along with each update provided to staff as of August 1st. But does anybody have any questions concerning those? We can call the agencies up if needed. Anybody have any questions? All right. Seeing none, we do thank the agencies for being here standing ready to present those out. 

But I do want to mention that the agencies should begin turning in monthly written reports and updates on rulemaking from the 2025 session by the first of each month by sending those to Bureau staff with the first update due on October 1st. And we’ll have those for members starting in our October meeting packet. So staff will be sending out additional information on this to the agencies. That’s due October 1 from our agencies. 

All right, members, without any further business– I’m not seeing any light up. No questions, no concerns. Thank you for being here. Hope your kids are having a great first week of school. We are adjourned.