After a handful of Arkansas state lawmakers complained about receiving what they consider to be unfair complaints about cutting funding to area agencies on aging in the state, a legislative panel on Tuesday called for delaying until next month the fate of the state Department of Human Services’ request to provide nearly $629,000 in federal American Rescue Plan funds to eight area agencies on aging for the cost of covid-related employees.
The Legislative Council’s Performance Review and Expenditure Review Committee recommended to the full Legislative Council, which meets Friday, that the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees further discuss the department’s request with the directors of the area agencies on aging and make a recommendation to the Legislative Council committee next month.
A handful of lawmakers said the area agencies on aging have received various federal coronavirus-related funds in recent years, and their supporters have called them to unfairly complain that state lawmakers are cutting the area agencies on aging’s funds after the one-time federal funds are spent.
Arkansas would use these federal American Rescue Plan funds through the area agencies on aging to recruit, hire and train public health workers to respond to the covid-19 pandemic and prepare for future public health challenges, the state Department of Human Services said in its written request for approval to distribute $628,878 in federal funds.
The funds would be used to offset costs of hiring a range of public health professionals, including social support professionals, community health workers, communication and policy experts and “other positions as may be required to prevent, prepare for and respond to COVID-19,” the department said.
The department said it would distribute the federal funds to the area agencies on aging using the Arkansas Older Americans Act intrastate funding formula with no administrative costs deducted.
The department said the following area agencies on aging would receive the following amounts of federal American Rescue Plan funds under its proposal:
Central Arkansas Arkansas Area Agency on Aging, $131,421.
Area Agency on Aging of Northwest Arkansas, $105,630.
East Arkansas Area Agency on Aging, $86,911.
Area Agency on Aging of West Central AR-The Senior Specialist, $71,316.
Area Agency on Aging of Southwest Arkansas, $63,246.
Area Agency on Aging of Southeast Arkansas, $57,763.
White River Area Agency on Aging, $56,478.
Area Agency on Aging of Western Arkansas, $56,113.
In March of 2021, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion American Rescue Plan Act that is designed to help the United States recover from the economic and health effects of the covid-19 pandemic.
In fiscal 2023 that ended June 30, the eight area agencies on aging received a total of $30.7 million in ongoing federal, state general revenue and other state revenue — up from $29.8 million in fiscal 2022 that ended June 30 — state Department of Human Services spokesman Gavin Lesnick said after the legislative committee’s meeting.
“We don’t have enough funding to feed these people in these areas, but yet we are hiring more people to work in these areas,” under the state Department of Human Services’ proposal, said state Rep. DeAnn Vaught, R-Horatio.
Jay Hill, director of the state Department of Human Services’ Division of Aging, Adult and Behavioral Health Services, said the federal American Rescue Plan funds could used by area agencies on aging to pay the existing staff to provide services such as covid screening, vaccination education and providing booster shoots, and the freed up funds could be redirected to other initiatives serving elderly Arkansans such as meals and other services.
But Vaught lamented that “we have got areas in the state of Arkansas where our senior citizens centers are shutting down because they don’t have the funds that they need to actually feed the constituents that live there.”
Rep. Frances Cavenaugh, R-Walnut Ridge, said “we get emails constantly saying that, ‘We cut [the area agencies on aging] funding.’
“We haven’t cut their funding,” she said. “The funding that they are not receiving is the funding from CARES [the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act] and covid, and I think a lot of times the centers don’t understand where their own funding comes from.
“And when they use one-time funding for ongoing expenses that’s something that they seem to want to work in their budget that is not going to be there,” she said.
The CARES Act, signed by President Donald Trump in March of 2020, allocated about $2.2 trillion toward mitigating the negative economic, health and safety impacts of the pandemic.
Hill said division officials have made it very clear the federal coronavirus-related funds distributed to the area agencies on aging are one-time funds and isolated funding streams that are not perpetual.
Nonetheless, state Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain View, who chairs the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, said “we are getting tired of getting blamed for cutting funding … [and] we are not doing that.”
The Legislative Council’s Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Committee voted Tuesday to approve Irvin’s motion to recommend referring the state Department of Human Services’ request to use the federal American Rescue plan funds to the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committees for a discussion with the directors of the area agencies on aging and for the committees to make a recommendation to the Legislative Council committee next month.
In other action Tuesday, the committee recommended the Legislative Council approve providing $2.4 million in spending authority for the state Department of Human Services to provide federal American Rescue Plan funds to Drew Memorial Health System in fiscal 2024, which started July 1.
This is the second half of federal emergency aid relief for the hospital to help it merge with the Baptist Health System, a Bureau of Legislative Research analyst said Tuesday.
In June, the Legislative Council approved a request from the state Department of Human Services for $4.9 million in spending authority to use federal American Rescue Plan funds to help Drew Memorial Health System in Monticello continue its operations. But only half of the $4.9 million funds was able to be disbursed before the end of fiscal 2023 on June 30, and the second half of the funds will be awarded when the merger is completed, which is tentatively scheduled to be Dec. 23, according to the bureau analyst.
The committee on Tuesday also recommended the Legislative Council approve the following transfers of restricted reserve funds:
$3.2 million to the Department of Public Safety’s Division of Arkansas State Police to allow for an additional troop school in fiscal 2024.
The $3.2 million is for the troop school that starts in October, state Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Cindy Murphy said afterward.
“We have one school starting Oct. 15 with 65 recruits,” she said in a written statement. “Another Troop School will begin Feb. 12. We are now taking applications. We currently have 81 open Trooper positions. These two schools should fill our vacancies.”
The last troop school graduation was held June 29 with 29 new graduates, Murphy said.
Asked if the number of applications to be state troopers has increased since the state troopers were granted significant pay raises in fiscal 2023 over their fiscal 2022 salaries, she said “We have more qualified applicants than we have room to train in our Academy.
“We are having to defer qualified applicants to another Troop School in February,” she said.
$225,000 to the Department of Commerce’s Division of Arkansas Rehabilitation Services to support maintenance of the former Army-Navy Hospital in Hot Springs, where Arkansas Rehabilitation Services operated the Arkansas Career Training Institute until its closing in 2019.
The funds will pay for utilities and a contract for security services at the property through the end of this calendar year and into the first quarter of next calendar year, said David Bell, chief financial officer for the state Department of Commerce.
$178,443.48 to the state Department of Agriculture to provide additional grant assistance to fairs for fair-related expenses.
The additional funding would make the current fiscal year 2024 funding equivalent to the funding that was received in fiscal 2023, state Department of Agriculture Secretary Wesley Ward said.
