Latest news with #MissyIrvin
Yahoo
14-05-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Arkansas water quality rules, urgent care access changes held for further review by lawmakers
Water quality rules will be taken up by lawmakers later this summer. (U.S. Department of Agriculture Natural Resources Conservation Service/Flickr) An update to Arkansas' surface-water quality rules was pulled from the Legislature's Joint Public Health Committee's agenda Wednesday to give lawmakers more time to consider it. Meanwhile, a Department of Human Services rule, which would change state Medicaid rules to allow recipients up to two urgent care visits a year without a doctor's referral, was sent to a subcommittee for further consideration after multiple legislators expressed concern about whether the text of the rule could have unintended consequences. The changes to Rule 2, which contains the water quality standards for rivers, lakes and other surface waters in the state, were brought before the committee by the Department of Energy and Environment's Division of Environmental Quality. States such as Arkansas that have been authorized to administer the federal Clean Water Act are required to undergo this review every three years to update existing water quality standards. Committee chair Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, said Rule 2 would likely receive its own hearing in June or July, separate from the committee's other business. The regulation containing Arkansas' existing water quality standards was already long, and the current review introduced a number of changes. DEQ is making cadmium and ammonia standards — which are from 1986 and 1999, respectively — more stringent to match the standards set by the EPA in 2016 and 2013 for those pollutants. Additionally, DEQ included standards for five new pollutants not currently in the regulation. These pollutants — benzene, ethylbenzene, phenol, toluene and xylene — can have a wide variety of detrimental effects on human health. The standards are 'health-based,' the division said in its documentation, and are meant to protect the health of humans and wildlife exposed to the state's surface waters. 'I think [committee members] needed more time to review it,' Irvin said after the meeting concluded. 'There were a lot of public comments, as well as comments from other state agencies and constitutional offices — so a lot of questions.' The Arkansas Department of Transportation and Arkansas Game and Fish Commission submitted feedback during the public comment period earlier this year. While ARDOT questioned when the new standards would become applicable to permit holders and how the change from a fecal coliform bacteria standard to an e. coli standard would affect permits, AGFC continued its requests to designate more waters in the state as 'Extraordinary Resource Waters' in order to protect vulnerable and endangered species. The agency made a similar request in 2020, during the last triennial review. A proposed amendment to a DHS rule aiming to hasten access to urgent care clinics for Medicaid recipients was referred to the Human Services subcommittee. Representatives from the department said the goal of the change was to divert patients from emergency rooms when there were other treatment options available. The need for a referral was a barrier to this when medical care became necessary after hours and a referral could not be obtained. The rule would allow Medicaid recipients with a primary care provider to go to an urgent care clinic twice a year without a referral, while those 'who are not yet assigned' a PCP would be allowed to go up to four times. Referrals would be required after the number of yearly visits are exhausted. Some lawmakers instantly took issue with the rule's language. Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, said he was opposed to the change due to concerns it would remove incentives for Medicaid recipients to obtain a primary care provider. 'It seems like this flies in the face of what the Legislature has been doing the last decade, trying to get more people to have an assigned PCP who is someone who can actually be the quarterback of their care,' Pilkington said. Research has found people with a PCP tend to have better health outcomes than those without one, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 'We want to preserve the bond between a patient and their PCP,' said Nell Smith, DHS' deputy director of medical services. 'That's why we still require a PCP referral [after a certain number of visits]. We don't want to shift care onto urgent care clinics.' However, Smith said, when these patients need care outside of business hours, they're being sent to the emergency room because of difficulties obtaining referrals. 'It's a fine balance, I'll give you that,' Smith said. Sen. John Payton, R-Wilburn, appeared to take issue with requiring referrals for urgent care clinics at all. 'This referral process can really slow down medical care,' he said, explaining how one of his employees was 'sitting at home' in pain because of the wait to see a specialist. That employee visited the emergency room twice while waiting for an appointment, Payton said. 'I think we should be evaluating whether or not the urgent care clinic is capable of diagnosing and treating more than we worry about how the patient got there and whether they were referred or not,' he said. While he understood trying to get Medicaid recipients to get an appointment with a primary care provider, Payton said urgent care clinics also had licensed physicians and nurses capable of treating and diagnosing conditions. Irvin cautioned that it was important the department make its definitions within the rule clear after multiple lawmakers also asked questions about how the rule defined an emergent care clinic. She said many PCPs offer day clinics for these purposes and it was important that the rule didn't cause them to be 'skipped out on.' Irvin ultimately moved the rule to the joint Human Services subcommittee for further consideration. The subcommittee is headed by Pilkington. The agency received no public comments on the rule.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate blocks prison funding on two votes. King calls plan a ‘mega financial disaster'
A vote to fund the 3,000-bed prison in Northern Franklin County with an additional $750 million failed twice in the Arkansas Senate. On April 1, Senate Bill 354 failed to garner the 27 votes needed to fund the prison in a 19-10 vote. Senators Ron Caldwell (Wynne), Jimmy Hickey Jr. (Texarkana), Ricky Hill (Cabot), Bryan King (Green Forrest), Greg Leding (Fayetteville), John Payton (Wilburn), Clint Penzo (Springdale), Terry Rice (Waldron), Gary Stubblefield (Branch) and Clarke Tucker (Little Rock) voted against the bill. Voting for the bill were Senators Justin Boyd (Fort Smith), Josh Bryant (Rogers), Breanne Davis (Russellville), Tyler Dees (Siloam Springs), Johnathan Dismag (Little Rock, bill's sponsor), Jim Dotson (Bentonville), Jane English (North Little Rock), Scott Flippo (Bull Shoals), Stephanie Flowers (Pine Bluff), Ben Gilmore (Crossett), Bart Hester (Cave), Missy Irvin (Mountain View), Blake Johnson (Corning), Mark Johnson (Little Rock), Matt McKee (Pearcy), Jim Petty (Van Buren), Matt Stone (Camden), Dan Sullivan (Jonesboro) and Dave Wallace (Leachville). Senators Alan Clark (Lonsdale) and Kim Hammer (Benton) didn't vote, while Senators Steve Crowell (Magnolia), Fredrick Love (Mabelvale), Reginald Murdock (Marianna) and Jamie Scott (North Little Rock) voted present. The vote failed again on April 2, with one fewer vote in support and three more in opposition, ending at 18-13. Sen. Dan Sullivan, who supported SB354 on April 1, switched to opposing it in the second vote. The opposition also gained votes from Sen. Alan Clark and Steve Crowell, who had previously voted 'present' or not voted. Sen. Kim Hammer changed from 'no vote' to supporting the bill, while Sen. Missy Irvin switched from 'yea' to 'no vote.' The legislature already has approved more than $300 million for the project. During a recent town hall, King pointed out that prisons of similar size have cost more than $1 billion. The costs for the prison didn't include the needed infrastructure to support and maintain the prison in Franklin County. 'This government plan for a mega-prison is a mega financial disaster,' King said. 'This plan is built on lies, deception and gross incompetence. Let's hope this disaster plan will be stopped for a more fiscally responsible plan to make Arkansas safer.' (This story was updated with additional information.) This article originally appeared on Fort Smith Times Record: Proposed Franklin County mega-prison fails to secure funding in senate
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Arkansas religious rights bill augurs more than just a clarifying guide
Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, speaks against Senate Bill 223 on the Senate floor on Tuesday, February 25, 2025. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Sen. Alan Clark told his colleagues Tuesday he was initially skeptical about Senate Bill 223, which would 'Create the Religious Rights at Public Schools Act.' I too was skeptical. But unlike the Republican senator from Lonsdale, who ultimately voted for the bill, I remain skeptical. The legislation would require public school districts and open charter schools to distribute at the beginning of each school year a copy of the act alerting students, parents and staff that they have 'broad religious freedom' under the U.S. Constitution and First Amendment case law under the U.S. Supreme Court. Among the rights the bill spells out are the ability to pray silently or out loud, individually or in groups and through other activities permitted to other groups by the school, including forming clubs. Also enumerated in the bill is the right to 'display, print, recite or discuss religious texts and religious beliefs' when a student has the discretion to choose a topic or person of interest. The bill further makes clear that students and staff can 'give a Bible or other religious text to any other person at the school.' Bill sponsor Sen. Mark Johnson, R-Ferndale, assured his fellow senators that the legislation merely serves as a guide 'to clarify religious rights at public schools' and doesn't introduce any new rights. Republican Sen. Breanne Davis of Russellville echoed Johnson, saying the bill is 'solidifying what's already law.' 'Students, parents and staff want to know what their religious freedoms are. There are situations … where teachers are fired, students get in trouble, and it's because people do not know where these things are in law. … Nobody knows what their rights are,' Davis said. If people don't know what their rights are, it could be because schools aren't teaching civics. But I suspect what's going on here is that certain religious sects want free rein to inject their particular brand of religion into public schools. Despite the senators' assurances that the bill is innocuous and not insidious, I remain concerned that if the bill becomes law, certain deeply religious people will use it to browbeat students and teachers into accepting their version of Christianity as the one true religion. And like Democratic Sen. Stephanie Flowers of Pine Bluff, I see the bill as potentially disruptive to public education and public schools. In speaking against the bill, Flowers delivered a disquisition on Article 14 and Amendment 53 of the Arkansas Constitution, which promise the state will 'ever maintain a general, suitable and efficient system of free public schools.' SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX 'It's a bill that lends itself to indoctrinating young vulnerable, impressionable children,' she said. 'When I talk about the possibility of indoctrination, I'm concerned about these documents of historical significance that are of a religious nature.' She cited as an example a 1956 publication, Arkansas Faith, published by the White Citizens Council of Arkansas, noting that the subscription form declares subscribers to be white Christians who will oppose integration by any legal means necessary. Flowers also said she didn't think the bill was appropriate for public schools. 'It emboldens us to have religious rights outweigh and overpower our educational rights for our children.' Johnson disagreed with Flowers, saying, 'What we have here is a failure to communicate.' The bill 'simply affirms existing religious rights. It's not attacking anyone's beliefs or establishing any beliefs.' Republican Sen. Missy Irvin of Mountain View described herself as a deeply Christian person, but opposed the bill. Irvin remembered being told by a fellow fifth-grader in her Catholic school that her parents weren't going to heaven because 'it's easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to go to heaven.' 'That deeply offended me,' she said. 'Growing up Catholic, do you know how many times I was told I was going to hell because we were baptized as babies? From people that went to Baptist churches?' Irvin asked. 'I'm sorry but I just don't think you bring people to Christ by beating them over the head with a Bible. I don't think that's right.' She also described the bill as unnecessary: 'You can do this already.' Her four children, who attend public schools, 'pray all the time,' she said. 'They carry Bibles in their backpacks. … This is not a problem, and it should not be in this law.' While SB 223 carefully notes that 'other religious texts' can be studied or read and shared in schools as well as the Bible, the language of the bill is clearly Christian-centric. Johnson maintained that the legislation stays true to the First Amendment and is inclusive of all faiths. 'The First Amendment is messy,' Clark said. 'We are a messy country. … Sometimes we don't just disagree, we really disagree. 'I am very against the establishment of religion. [But] saying you can pray and this is what you will pray are two very different things.' Clark is right about that, but SB 223 leaves too much room for someone in authority to tell students and teachers what they must pray. SUPPORT: YOU MAKE OUR WORK POSSIBLE
Yahoo
19-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Bills to improve Arkansas maternal health, change ballot initiative process head to Sanders' desk
Sen. Jimmy Hickey (left), R-Texarkana, votes present on House Bill 1427, cosponsored by Sen. Missy Irvin (center), R-Mountain View, on the Arkansas Senate floor on Tuesday, February 18, 2025. At right is Sen. Ricky Hill, R-Cabot. (Tess Vrbin/Arkansas Advocate) Legislation that Arkansas lawmakers and Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders have said will improve the state's maternal health care landscape moved closer to becoming law Tuesday. Sanders also has the opportunity to sign into law two bills that would alter the citizen-led ballot initiative process after the Senate approved both despite bipartisan opposition. On Feb. 6, Sanders announced that the Healthy Moms, Healthy Babies Act would improve low-income Arkansans' access to health care during pregnancy and childbirth. Much of the legislation would alter the state's Medicaid program by establishing presumptive Medicaid eligibility for pregnant Arkansans, offering reimbursements for doulas and community health workers, and establishing pregnancy-related Medicaid coverage for specific treatments. Rep. Aaron Pilkington, R-Knoxville, and Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, are sponsoring identical bills to create the policy: House Bill 1427 and Senate Bill 213. HB 1427 passed the Senate with 24 votes for it and none against it Tuesday and will go to Sanders' desk. SB 213 passed the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee Tuesday, and the House is expected to give the bill final approval Wednesday. The legislation has advanced with little dissent but occasionally with much debate over a clause on the final page that would make a child's fifth birthday the statute of limitations for any actions against alleged medical injuries during birth. Current law, which the two bills would amend, allows a minor or his or her legal guardian to 'commence an action' on an alleged medical injury by the child's 11th birthday or two years after the injury occurred, depending on which is later. While no senators voted against either bill, six House Republicans voted against HB 1427, with some expressing concern about the statute of limitations. Little Rock attorneys Paul Byrd and Lamar Porter spoke against this clause before legislative committees voted to pass HB 1427. Byrd, a personal injury attorney, told House members last week that it would be difficult to determine any neurological damage to a child at all, let alone what caused it, before the age of five. Porter is a medical malpractice attorney who has handled birth injury cases. He told the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee on Monday that HB 1427 should not include the section with the statute of limitations. 'It is ironic to me that a bill designed to promote the health of moms and their babies has added to it a provision that potentially harms the legal rights of moms and babies,' Porter said. He mentioned that the legislation does not specify whether the window for acceptable birth injury claims opens at the start of labor, the point of a pregnant individual's admission to a hospital, or at another point in the 'complicated process' of giving birth. Only 34 hospitals in 23 of Arkansas' 75 counties have labor and delivery units, and five maternity wards have closed since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, most recently in Newport. The medical malpractice insurance required to cover the existing 11-year statute of limitations 'completely contributes to those labor and delivery units being closed' and fosters the state's difficulty recruiting and retaining obstetrician-gynecologists, Irvin said. Arkansas has one of the highest maternal mortality rates in the nation, and the third-highest infant mortality rate, according to the Arkansas Center for Health Improvement. Despite concerns about the statute of limitations from some committee members, including Sen. John Payton, R-Wilburn, HB 1427 passed the Senate committee with no audible dissent. 'I'm going to vote for this bill because I feel like it's a treatment and it's not the cure,' Payton said. 'I would hope that somebody, maybe in [the Committee on] Insurance and Commerce, would work on the cure. I think it's a sad state of affairs that we have to restrict the injured parties' opportunity for recovery because the insurance companies are involved.' Sen. Jimmy Hickey, R-Texarkana, voted present on both HB 1427 and SB 213 on the Senate floor. SB 213 passed the Senate with 30 votes for it, including all six Senate Democrats, and none against it. Six House Republicans voted present on HB 1427 last week, while all 19 House Democrats and 67 House Republicans voted for it. SUBSCRIBE: GET THE MORNING HEADLINES DELIVERED TO YOUR INBOX All six Senate Democrats, plus Republican Sen. Bryan King of Green Forest, voted against House Bill 1221 and House Bill 1222, which next go to Sanders' desk. HB 1221 would clarify that the certification of ballot titles for initiatives, referenda and constitutional amendments as well as the signatures collected for those measures would only be valid for the next general election. HB 1222 would expand the attorney general's existing authority to reject a proposal if it conflicts with the U.S. Constitution or federal statutes. It would also prevent a sponsor from submitting more than one conflicting petition at the same time. The bills' Republican sponsors, Sen. Kim Hammer of Benton and Rep. David Ray of Maumelle, said HB 1222 is a response to supporters of proposed 2024 ballot measures submitting multiple petition language options for Attorney General Tim Griffin to approve or reject. Direct democracy bills stir passion, hours of discussion in Arkansas House committee The supporters in question, Arkansas Citizens for Transparency, were among many groups that tried and failed to put changes to state law and the state Constitution on November's ballot. Arkansas is one of 24 states that allows for citizen-led initiatives, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. Hickey voted against HB 1221, and Sen. Alan Clark, R-Lonsdale, voted against HB 1222. No senators voted present on either bill. Hammer is also sponsoring a fleet of Senate bills that opponents have called attacks on direct democracy last week and this week. Two of those bills passed the Senate last week but did not receive the two-thirds majority vote necessary to pass their emergency clauses, which would allow them to go into effect immediately upon Sanders' signature. The Senate subsequently passed motions to expunge the votes on the emergency clauses. Senate Bill 209 would disqualify signatures collected by canvassers if the secretary of state finds 'by a preponderance of evidence' that they violated state law collecting the signatures. Senate Bill 210 would require potential signers to read the ballot title of a petition or have it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. It would also make it a misdemeanor for a canvasser to accept a signature from people who have not read the ballot title or had it read aloud to them in the presence of a canvasser. Hammer said Tuesday that he will bring the two emergency clauses back to the Senate floor Monday since some senators are likely to be absent from the chamber this week due to inclement weather. Emergency clauses need 24 votes to pass the Senate; HB 1221 has an emergency clause and received 25 votes. HB 1222 also received 25 votes but has no emergency clause. Arkansas' elections are overseen by the secretary of state, a position Hammer is seeking in 2026. Current Secretary of State Cole Jester, who was appointed by Sanders and cannot run for the position, expressed support Monday for changes to the initiative petition process after claiming to have found 'thousands of fraudulent signatures' in an election security review.
Yahoo
12-02-2025
- Health
- Yahoo
Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs bill limiting medical insurance settlements
LITTLE ROCK, Ark. – The governor on Tuesday signed into law legislation impacting insurance settlements introduced in the current Arkansas legislative session. The one-sentence-long House Bill 1204 impacts the amount of money Arkansans receive in court cases. The bill, now Act 28 with the governor's signature, mandates that any insurance repayment for medical expenses after an injury from an accident only be repaid to the plaintiff for the amount billed to the insurance company. Series of constitutional amendments filed in Arkansas legislature on Monday The legislation addresses the issue of paying for someone's injuries after an accident, being the difference between the full price of medical care and the adjusted, lower price hospitals charge for someone with insurance. Sen. Missy Irvin (R-Mountain View), one of the bill's sponsors, explained that the legislation corrected the law resulting from a 1998 Arkansas Supreme Court decision. In that case, the plaintiffs used the non-adjusted amount of their medical bills to show the seriousness of their injuries despite receiving a 50% discount. The court ruled that the plaintiff's adjusted amount was a 'collateral source' and could not be used as evidence, as the defendant wished, and the jury heard of the whole, non-adjusted cost of injuries. Arkansas Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders signs Jefferson County budget correction bill, goes into immediate effect Irvin compared it to returning a sweater to a store after purchasing it at a 50% discount, expecting a full 100% price refund that did not reflect the discount. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
