Joint ALC-HOSPITAL, MEDICAID, & DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITIES STUDY SUBCOMMITTEE
Event Log
Cody Waits — Cody Waits is introduced and identifies himself for the record as the Executive Director of Workforce Connections at the Department of Commerce, also referred to as Arkansas Workforce Connections.
Eddie Thomas — Introduced as the director of the Office of Employment and Training.
Eddie Thomas — Introduces himself for the record as director of the Office of Employment and Training at the Department of Commerce.
Eddie Thomas — Asked to describe what he would like to see once the waivers are approved.
Mary Bentley — Asks whether Louisiana's denied waivers suggest some Arkansas requests may also be denied.
Mary Bentley — Her question about denied waivers is answered by the witnesses.
Mary Bentley — Praises the witnesses' work and asks for a vision of what they would like to see after approval.
Mary Bentley — Referenced as having noted the many opportunities and programs available.
Mary Bentley — Addressed the chair and asked whether the waivers would help people with disabilities in the workforce.
Mary Bentley — Greeted by the witness as Representative Bentley.
Mary Bentley — Representative Mary Bentley was called on and then asked for more details about Indiana’s model and how a bridge to a health savings account would work.
Mary Bentley — Raised a question about savings and the overall cost of recommended changes, asking how the state or federal government would save money.
Jane English — Jane English is referenced throughout a continuous exchange: she is noted as having heard updates with the speaker the previous day, is addressed as Madam Chair, and is later greeted as Senator English while the discussion continues.
Jane English — Senator English is referenced in a continued comment about the TANF program, with the speaker noting that some current policy ideas may run counter to TANF’s original intent and using the repeated address to continue that same point.
Eric Randolph — Introduced as Director of Research at the Georgia Center for Opportunity.
Les Ford — Introduced as Senior Fellow for the Alliance for Opportunity.
Les Ford — Les Ford is introduced as a colleague who will testify and bring additional ideas, then is noted as having a presentation to make, and finally begins her testimony by greeting the committee and indicating she will share slides as part of her presentation.
Heather Webb — Introduced as Director of Operations and Development at Arkansas Family Alliance.
Heather Webb — Heather Webb introduced herself and her affiliations with Restore Hope, 100 Families, and Arkansas Family Alliance, then described her eight years of experience working with families in poverty and ALICE households. She agreed with prior remarks and began illustrating the issue of benefit cliffs by sharing a real family example she had spoken with that day.
Molly Palmer — Molly Palmer is introduced as the Vice President of Communications and Engagement at the Heart of Arkansas United Way.
Molly Palmer — Molly Palmer introduced herself as being affiliated with Heart of Arkansas United Way and said she had additional points to share about the family experience, the employer experience, and the nonprofit community’s experience related to benefit cliffs.
Unnamed witness — Began testimony by greeting legislators and expressing appreciation for Arkansas.
unidentified witness (testifying speaker) — Ends testimony and invites questions or comments.
Eric — Eric was repeatedly referenced as having already explained benefit cliffs in detail, including the benefits involved and the underlying math. The discussion later returned to his example that child care is one of the largest benefit cliffs, reinforcing the same broader point about how benefit cliffs affect families.
Eric — Referenced as having previously brought up the Indiana model.
Eric — Invited to add details on the Indiana model.
Eric — Offered to share a graphic and explain the Indiana program using a report reference.
Eric — Named as someone who may answer the question about savings data.
Les Warren — Referenced as 'Les'; Heather said she agreed with everything he mentioned.
Les Warren — Referenced as possibly having a different take, but the speaker says the view is the same.
Les Warren — The speaker thanks Les for being present and for the presentation.
local partner / administrator — Described as an administrator for federal grant funding who is seeking private dollars to help families facing benefit cliffs.
Les — Les is referenced throughout a continuous discussion as the witness explaining the model, as a collaborator on a write-up about marriage penalties, and as a possible source for answering a question about savings data.
Les — Referenced as being aware of the need to avoid additional costs in the work being done.
Fredrick Love — Likely the speaker referred to as 'Senator Penny' in the transcript; asks for data and savings evidence.
Unidentified witness (likely Eric or Les) — The witness explained that program design should avoid overly generous benefits that create sharp cliffs, instead phasing benefits out smoothly before income limits. He then added that they have done some modeling of these fiscal effects, but that the work is very difficult, similar to the kind of fiscal analysis done for Appropriations Committee fiscal notes.
Rick Beck — Rick Beck was recognized as the next speaker and then engaged in a brief exchange about the issue being addressed program by program. He said he liked that concept because it breaks the problem down, and he questioned how to handle the issue by looking at stacked benefits and individual circumstances.
unidentified witness/modeling expert — The witness explains that the modeling tool is a computer program that can be run with family-structure inputs to simulate what happens when someone applies for benefits at a county office, producing scenario-based outcomes across different income ranges.
Jim Petty — Referenced as having raised the broader point about moving people forward.