5/13/13

LITTLE ROCK – For the past three years, they’ve been the three dirtiest words in Arkansas politics. But the Affordable Care Act may get an image rehabilitation in time for next year’s election.

The 2010 law and opposition to it helped Republicans topple a two-term U.S. senator, sweep the state’s four congressional districts and win control of the state Legislature for the first time since Reconstruction. But, emerging from a session where lawmakers expanded health insurance relying on a key part of the overhaul, Democrats are now embracing a law that many blamed for their losses in recent years.

Republicans, meanwhile, are trying to figure out how to reconcile their dislike of the law with the reality that it’s not going away anytime soon.

The “private option” that the Legislature approved to use federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private insurance for 250,000 low-income residents changes the dynamics of the health care debate for both parties. The plan, which still needs federal approval, is being touted by supporters as an alternative to the Medicaid expansion called for under the federal health care law.

For Democrats, the plan’s approval removes a key line of attack that Republicans have used over the past two election cycles. If the health overhaul was so bad, they argue, why did a Republican-controlled legislature approve an insurance expansion that relies on that same law?

The private option also changes the dynamic within the Democratic Party. Speaking to a group of leaders from the Delta, former Lt. Gov. Bill Halter blasted Democratic rival Mike Ross and the Republicans running for governor for opposing the federal health overhaul.

Without the law that Ross opposed in Congress, Halter said, Arkansas would be unable to expand health insurance coverage the way it did.

“A lot of people are telling you they’re for it now or they’re ok with it now, but they weren’t leading to get it done,” Halter said. “In fact, in some cases they were voting against.”

Ross, who voted against the health care law and later supported efforts to repeal it, has said he backs the private option. He said the stance isn’t that different from Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe, who has said he would have voted against the health care law if he had been in Congress.

“I’ve always said there were good parts and bad parts of the health care reform. I’ve always said the Medicaid expansion was a good part,” Ross told reporters.

The bigger fight could come within the Republican Party as supporters of the private option face backlash from conservative activists who see the plan as no different from Medicaid expansion.

It’s a division that Democrats hope to exploit.

“I think there’s an important political lesson that there’s significant political division on the other side and that’s beneficial to Arkansas Democrats going forward,” state Democratic Party Chairman Will Bond said.

Republicans, however, say they remain united against the health overhaul even if there were disagreements over the private option plan, and say they believe the law remains toxic in the eyes of voters.

“At the end of the day, (Democrats are) still going to have to own Obamacare and be responsible for the votes they cast for it,” said David Ray, a spokesman for the state GOP.

House Speaker Davy Carter, who is mulling a run for governor, may be the greatest test of whether opponents of the health care law can live with a plan to implement part of it. Carter and other supporters of the private option advocated it as the best, most conservative way to mitigate what they called the harmful effects of the federal health overhaul.

Implementing the private option and accompanying efforts to curb Medicaid costs are going to be a key part of the governor’s race, Carter has said.

“I don’t think there’s any doubt that over the next four years the most pressing issue is going to be how we implement the private option and make sure we’re managing that correctly and make sure we realize the cost savings on these other waste fraud and abuse bills,” Carter said last month.

It’s unclear how much Carter would be on the defense over the private option in the GOP primary. Former U.S. Rep. Asa Hutchinson, who is seeking the Republican nomination, has said he would have signed the plan into law but would have wanted a special session to address the issue. Little Rock businessman Curtis Coleman has opposed the private option.

The issue may still loom, though, with a group hoping to put the private option on the ballot next year as a referendum. Glenn Gallas, chairman of the Arkansans Against Big Government group, said the effort is aimed primarily at letting voters decide on the issue but acknowledges it will also have a role in next year’s election.

“I think it’s actually going to define not necessarily the election but more the primaries,” Gallas said. “I think the health care debate as framed is going to change.”

5/8/13

A regional transmission organization that oversees electric power delivery will add up to 50 high-paying jobs at a new operations center in Little Rock, officials announced Wednesday.

Midcontinent Independent System Operator will add between 35 and 50 positions with an average salary of $85,000 apiece.

MISO, which Gov. Mike Beebe likened to an air-traffic controller for electricity, is integrating Entergy’s four-state operations into its system.

The company is still evaluating sites for the center. President and Chief Executive Officer John Bear said the process of picking and building a site could take a year to 18 months, though the hiring would start immediately.

It will be the company’s third hub after locations in Indiana and Minnesota. Bear said the new employees will oversee operations in Arkansas, Mississippi, Texas and Louisiana.

Bear joined Beebe and other company and state officials for a formal announcement of the new jobs at the state Capitol. Word of the average salary drew applause from the small crowd gathered in Beebe’s conference room.

The company will invest between $5 million and $8 million in the new facility.

MISO received incentives from the state of a four-year, 3.9 percent cash rebate of payroll for the new jobs and sales tax refunds on building materials, taxable machinery and other equipment.

Entergy has been going through the process of joining MISO for several years with the agreement set to go into effect at the end of the year.

The company has said it expects to pass on $263 million in savings to its customers in the first 10 years of its membership in MISO.

4/24/13

The Republican-controlled state House and Senate on Tuesday completed action on bills increasing the state general-revenue budget by $197 million in the fiscal year that starts in July and distributing more than $300 million in surplus funds to various programs and projects.

They sent the bills to Democratic Gov. Mike Beebe on the 100th day of the 2013 session, the longest Arkansas session since the Great Depression.

Two years ago in the regular legislative session, the Democratic-controlled Legislature enacted measures increasing the general-revenue budget by $117 million and distributing $50 million in surplus funds. Senate President Pro Tempore Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, and House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, said they would consult lawmakers about whether to summon them back to the Capitol to try to override Beebe’s vetoes of three election bills sponsored by Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest.

Although lawmakers completed their agenda and headed for home Tuesday, Lamoureux and Carter have until noon May 17 to call them back to the Capitol, if necessary, to respond to vetoes and to address a few other limited matters.

The 2013 session was marked by the Legislature authorizing: the use of federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance for about 250,000 low-income, uninsured Arkansans; tax cuts projected to cut state general revenue by $9.9 million in fiscal 2014, $84.8 million in 2015 and $140.9 million in 2016; and a $125 million bond issue for a proposed $1.1 billion steel mill near Osceola.

In nearly all party-line votes, the Republican-controlled General Assembly overrode Beebe’s vetoes of bills prohibiting most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy; barring most abortions after the 20th week of pregnancy; and requiring Arkansans to present photo identification in order to vote.The American Civil Liberties Union last week filed suit in federal court in Little Rock, asking that Act 301 – the law prohibiting most abortions after the 12th week of pregnancy – be struck down.

Republicans gained control of the House and Senate for the first time in 138 years in November’s general election.

Lamoureux said Republicans learned that it’s more difficult to be in control of the Legislature “than when we were criticizing those [Democrats] who were trying to do it before us.

“But we were able to work with the Democratic Party and Republican Party to make it work,” he said. “You just can’t do whatever you want.

“I don’t think there was any drastic legislation or agenda that was too far to one side or the other that was able to pass this session,” said Lamoureux, who voted to override Beebe’s three vetoes. “Everybody would probably like something a little different, but I think it is a successful session on the whole.”

Beebe, who is the titular head of the state Democratic Party, said there was a lot of partisanship in the Legislature early in the session as social issues divided lawmakers more along party lines than later in the session.

“In terms of major issues, big issues, getting things done, they worked together pretty well, particularly late, particularly in the last three, four weeks, and sometimes it takes a while for that to occur,” he said. “I’m proud of them. We don’t always get our way. It’s not a dictatorship.”

Senate Republican leader Eddie Joe Williams of Cabot said Republican control of the Legislature “moved the needle toward a conservative Arkansas,” citing the anti-abortion laws and tax cuts, in particular.

“We’ve seen more negotiation,” he said. “Historically, with all due respect, the governor pretty well controlled the legislative session to a certain extent because [Beebe’s party] controlled both Houses.”

The House is made up of 51 Republicans and 48 Democrats with a Green Party representative. The Senate has 21 Republicans and 14 Democrats.

Rep. Jonathan Barnett, R-Siloam Springs, said it’s debatable whether the Legislature enacted more Republican policies this year just because the GOP controlled the House and Senate.

“Everybody comes down here and says they want to create jobs and decrease regulation, and in reality most of the time, including this session, we’ve increased the size of government and we’ve increased regulation and passed a lot of laws that somebody’s going to have to be sure are enforced,” said Barnett, an ally of Rep. Terry Rice, R-Waldron. Last November, Carter defeated Rice in a 52-45 vote to be House speaker.

“The citizens should always be concerned when the members are in session, because a lot can happen,” said Barnett.

Lamoureux said he wished lawmakers could have referred to voters a proposed constitutional amendment to overhaul the state’s tort laws, but they were unable to reach agreement.

“I don’t know where the fault lies,” he said. “I don’t want to really assess whose fault it was, but it was something that we thought that we could resolve that we were unable to resolve.”

The state Supreme Court has struck down several provisions of a 2003 tort law enacted by the Legislature, including a $1 million limit on punitive damages.

In a 28-6 vote, the Senate on Tuesday sent to the governor House Bill 2233 prioritizing the distribution of $4.924 billion in state general revenuein fiscal 2014 to state agencies – up from $4.727 billion in fiscal 2013 – and HB2232 distributing $300 million in surplus funds to various programs and projects.

In a 77-15 vote, the House sent to the governor Senate Bill 22 that’s identical to HB2233. In a 78-14 vote, the House sent the governor SB364, which is identical to HB2232.

SB22 and HB2233 largely mirrored Beebe’s proposed general revenue budget for fiscal 2014, with most of the increased state support going to the public schools and Medicaid program.

The proposed general revenue budget factors in $10 million in reduced revenue from tax cuts in fiscal 2014, sets aside $18 million in rainy-day funds and funds 2 percent cost-of-living raises for state employees who don’t work at the state higher-education institutions.

Among other things, SB364 and HB2232 provide $107 million in surplus funds to the state Medicaid program, $100 million to the governor to spend on projects at his discretion, more than $30 million for projects at the state’s higher-education institutions, and $35 million apiece to the House and Senate for their members’ favored programs and projects.

The tax cuts that the Legislature enacted for fiscal 2015 and 2016 rely in part on savings that state officials and the Legislature expect from implementing the “private option” to use federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for about 250,000 uninsured Arkansans.

The tax-reduction measures include cuts in income tax rates, capital gains taxes, the sales tax paid on energy by manufacturers and income taxes paid by military members.

Carter said he didn’t know whether Republican control of the Legislature made any difference. But it’s pretty remarkable that the Legislature authorized the proposed bond issue for the steel mill and the use of federal Medicaid dollars to purchase private health insurance for uninsured Arkansans and tax cuts, he said.

“It’s a novel idea, sitting down and talking with people. … That’s how we got all this stuff done, communicating, working with each other, identifying the problems and issues and trying to find solutions,” Carter said. “I think Washington could learn some lessons on how to come together and work together like these men and women did here.”

Rep. Nate Steel, D-Nashville, said the closely divided House “moderated the legislation that came through.”

He credited Carter for reaching out to members of both parties.

“It could have been a lot more divisive, and I’m actually pleasantly surprised that it wasn’t that divided along party lines,” Steel said.

Senate Democratic leader Keith Ingram of West Memphis said he was surprised to see “more animosity intraparty than between Democrats and Republicans,” and some Republican and Democratic leaders put the state’s interests ahead of their political parties’interests.

Passage of the health-care legislation was a key accomplishment, he said.

Critics have labeled it Obamacare and Medicaid expansion. Supporters called it the private option. Officially, it’s known as the Health Care Independence Act of 2013.

“At the end of the day, whatever you want to call it, there is going to be 250,000 Arkansans that didn’t have health care that are going to have health care now,” Ingram said. “I could care less what we call it. All in all we got there, and our state is going to be the beneficiary and be better for the things that came out of the 89th General Assembly.

“There were some times that I wasn’t sure that was going to be the case,” he said.

4/17/13

LITTLE ROCK — Legislation setting state spending priorities showed little movement Wednesday, making it likely that the General Assembly won’t meet its Friday deadline to wrap up business.

Meanwhile, the Joint Budget Committee endorsed an appropriation bill Wednesday that would grant a 2 percent raise to the state’s judges and prosecutors, and a co-chairman of the panel said he expects rank-and-file state employees to get the same pay increase in separate legislation, but not legislators or the executive branch officials.

The Senate Revenue and Taxation Committee planned to meet Thursday to consider House tax cut proposals, along with several Senate proposals. Senate leaders also said the Revenue Stabilization Act, the legislation that sets the state’s spending priorities for next fiscal year, will most likely be released Thursday. That bill must sit on members’ desk for three days before it can be approved.

“We’re close,” said Sen. Larry Teague, D-Nashville, adding that he expects the session to end early next week.

House Speaker Davy Carter, R-Cabot, and Sen. Pro Tem Michael Lamoureux, R-Russellville, both said it appeared likely that approving the RSA and completing other business would prevent the Legislature from recessing on Friday as scheduled.

On Wednesday, the Senate sent to the governor Senate Bill 914 after approving a House amendment to the bill that wold create a new state office to investigate suspected Medicaid fraud.

The bill, sponsored jointly by Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, and Rep. Bruce Westerman, R-Hot Springs, would establish an Office of Medicaid Inspector General as part of the governor’s office.

SB 914 also would create the new criminal offense of health care fraud and direct the Office of Information Technology to test and strengthen the Medicaid payment system to detect fraud, improve accountability and automate processes for the review of claims.

The House voted 66-9 to approve SB 719 by Sen. Bryan King, R-Green Forest, which would create a four-person Voter Integrity Unit consisting of the director of the secretary of state’s elections division, the attorney for the secretary of state’s office, one employee of the elections division and one state capitol police officer. The unit would investigate any complaint filed with the state Board of Election Commissioners alleging voter irregularities or fraud.

The bill goes to the Senate for concurrence in a House amendment.

The House voted 57-23 to approve SB 1010 by Sen. Jeremy Hutchinson, R-Little Rock, which would require all mattresses sold in the state to bear a label stating whether they are all new or contain previously used materials. Selling a used mattress as new would be a Class A misdemeanor, punishable by up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.

The bill goes to the governor.

In a 78-9 vote, the House passed SB 821 by Sen. Keith Ingram, D-West Memphis, which would require people being paid to collect signatures for a ballot initiative to be registered with the secretary of state’s office and to sign affidavits stating they have not been convicted of any crimes.

The bill goes to the Senate for concurrence in a House amendment.

The House voted 90-0 to approve HB 1896 by Rep. Ann Clemmer, R-Benton, which would require the state Department of Education and the state Department of Higher Education to work together to study the reasons behind the high need for remedial classes among Arkansas college freshmen and to develop a way for high schools to share in the cost of offering those remedial college classes.

The bill goes to the Senate.

Also Wednesday, the Senate passed, 33-1, HB 1017, by Rep. Denny Altes, R-Fort Smith, which would allow a school district to adopt curriculum standards for an academic course on the Bible. The bill goes to the governor.

The Senate also approved HB 1774 by Rep. James McLean, D-Batesville, which raises the minimum state funding for an adequate education for all K-12 students by 2 percent in each of the next two years. The measure also includes a 1.8 percent increase in separate funding categories for English-language programs, alternative-learning environments and professional development.

The bill passed 35-0 and goes to the governor.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette

4/18/13

The Senate voted 28-7 late Wednesday night to approve using hundreds of millions of federal dollars to purchase private health insurance for 250,000 low-income Arkansans, after a day of waiting and amendments.

The bill giving the state Department of Human Services authority to spend the federal money now goes to Gov. Mike Beebe’s desk. The House approved the appropriation bill 77-23 on Tuesday, after coming up six votes short on Monday.

The plan, called the “private option” at the Capitol, creates a program to allow people who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level to use federal Medicaid funds to purchase private health insurance from a government-run exchange.

To get to the 27 votes needed to pass an appropriation bill, sponsors agreed to change separate enabling legislation that had already reached the governor’s desk but had not been signed. An appropriation, or authority to spend money, needs approval from three fourths of lawmakers in both chambers. The enabling legislation needs a simple majority vote.

The two enabling bills, which set up a framework for what the program will look like, were pulled from Beebe’s desk and sent back to the Legislature, so changes could be made that would make the program palatable to a handful of wavering lawmakers.

On Wednesday night the House and Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor committees added the amendment to House Bill 1143 by Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, and Senate Bill 1020 by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe. The bills are identical.

The House bill was given final approval by a 71-22 vote. The Senate bill was not given final approval Wednesday night. The Legislature is expected to pass both by the end of the week. The governor called the vote a victory for Arkansans.

“You’re going to have over 200,000 working Arkansans who could not afford insurance and didn’t have health insurance that are going to be covered. It’s huge for the hospitals, it’s huge for small business,” Beebe said. “This is not a victory for any individual, it’s not a victory for any group of folks. It’s a victory for the people of Arkansas.”

Beebe said the amendment makes explicit what he says was already implicit in the bill to assuage some lawmakers’ fears, such as specifying which federal waiver the state will ask for. “We had no problem with that. It delayed it a little bit, but that’s OK. That was part of the whole process,” he said.

The amendments also added Sen. Missy Irvin, R-Mountain Home, to the bill’s list of co-sponsors. Irvin opposed the private option before the bill was amended.

“She wanted to make sure that there was language actually in the bill that said what everybody’s been saying, and so it’s in there,” Beebe said.

Burris said the changes weren’t made purely for political reasons.

“This just really clearly lays out the steps, one, two, three, in a more succinct way,” Burris said. “It’s good to have it in the bill. I still think it makes it better policy, it certainly doesn’t hurt the politics.” Some opponents dislike the private option because it arose from the Medicaid expansion plan outlined in the federal 2010 Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. The U.S. Supreme Court, on a 5-4 vote, upheld most of the Act in June, but struck down a provision which would have required states to expand their Medicaid programs.

Opponents of the legislation don’t want Arkansas to accept billions of federal dollars over the next decade to implement the program, a move that would add to the federal debt. Sen. Jim Hendren, R-Sulphur Springs, told senators the bill would allow for the largest expansion in state government history.

“At some point we as a people have to say, ‘enough,’” he said.

Supporters argue that the state can recraft the Medicaid expansion provision and at the same time shield the state from some of the health-care act’s other effects. They question how the state can turn down health care for a quarter-million uninsured Arkansans – and the hundreds of millions of federal dollars that will come with it each year.

Wednesday’s amendment specifically states that the Department of Human Services will seek a comprehensive waiver under Section 1115 of the Social Security Act. The waiver in essence exempts the new program from meeting the federal Medicaid requirements.

Sen. David Sanders, R-Little Rock, said the changes address some concerns that have been raised.

“There has been criticism that the program that this bill put in place is simply Medicaid by another name,” Sanders said. “But that was never our intent.”

The amendments also specify that the state will not seek permanent amendments to its Medicaid State Plan. The state plan is the contract between the state and federal government detailing how the state will run its Medicaid program. For example, Arkansas’ traditional Medicaid program covers adults up to 17 percent of the poverty level who have children on Medicaid. It is difficult to change the plan. Some members feared that the state would change its state plan and be forced to provide the private option to 250,000 Arkansans from now on, even if the state couldn’t afford it or federal funding plunged.

The bill requires the state to seek approval by 2015 for an optional Health Savings Account program. Participants could choose higher deductible plans, but would keep some of the savings.

The bills all state that if the federal government doesn’t grant requested waivers or allow the state to implement the program exactly as laid out in the bill, then the private option will not go into effect and those 250,000 people will not have help getting insurance.

Beebe stressed that the state Department of Human Services worked with the federal Health and Human Services Department while constructing the amendments Wednesday to ensure that the federal government would be likely to approve the private option.

Burris said the amendment shouldn’t surprise the federal government.

“This is all happening in consultation. There’s not anything here that should be a big red flag to [federal Health and Human Services.] There’s nothing here that’s just going to sink the ship,” Burris said. As amended, the bills also state that Arkansas wants confirmation from the federal government that employers will not be penalized for not providing insurance for the population served under the exchange. Some members said they were concerned about how business owners would be affected if Arkansas didn’t act on the private option.

A March 13 study by the Jackson Hewitt Tax Service estimated that Arkansas businesses with more than 50 full time employee that don’t provide health insurance would be hit with $26 million to $38 million in federal penalties when their employees seek subsidized insurance in the state’s online health-insurance pool.

The study assumes that employers would be fined $2,000 to $3,000 per employee.

“This alleviates those employers from that,” Sanders said. He said if the private option isn’t approved or ends, employers will face that cost again.

Burris also cited concerns about the fines.

“We simply want to make sure that is confirmed in writing and authenticated from the federal government,” he said.

Also Wednesday, the Senate Insurance and Commerce approved House Bill 1508 by Rep. Mark Biviano, R-Searcy, which would take the federal-state insurance exchange and place it under the control of a state-level nonprofit in 2015. The state missed the deadline to take control of its exchange before 2015.

The Affordable Care Act required the creation of private-insurance marketplaces – called exchanges – from which people can pick their own insurance plans. Arkansas lawmakers wouldn’t approve a state exchange in 2012 so the state Department of Health partnered with the federal government to create one. Over 200,000 Arkansans will purchase their own insurance through the exchange, along with the 250,000 who would use federal funds to buy plans if the private option is approved.

4/11/13

The Arkansas House on Thursday passed a bill that would use federal Medicaid funding to provide private-option health care for low-income residents of the state.

Sponsored by Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison, House Bill 1143 passed 62-37. One member did not vote. The emergency clause within the bill failed to meet the two-thirds majority required to pass.

If signed into law, the bill would allow 250,000 low-income Arkansans the option to purchase government-funded private health care.

The Senate passed its version of the bill, Senate Bill 1020, sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe, by a 24-9 vote Friday.

The House must now vote on House Bill 1219, which provides the necessary spending authority. The vote, expected Friday, requires a three-fourths majority to pass.

With the passing of the bills, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported that about 200,000 Arkansans are expected to take the private insurance option over Medicaid if certain programs get federal approval for the changes.

4/10/13

A fundraising goal of $4-million has been met that will allow Little Rock’s Our House to build a new children’s center.

The organization serves the working homeless.

“We are thrilled that our vision for expanding our programs for the most disadvantaged children in our community will become a reality,” said Georgia Mjartan, Executive Director of Our House. “And we are incredibly grateful to the hundreds of families, companies, and foundations that have chosen to invest in this project, which will have a positive impact in the lives of thousands of children and families over the coming years.”

Our House operates the state’s only children’s programs specifically for homeless, formerly homeless, and near-homeless children. That includes a licensed child development center for children ages 0-5 and an out-of-school-time youth program for children ages 6-17. The new center will serve as many as 142 children each day, up from Our House’s current capacity of less than 50 each day.

Our House raised the $4 million needed to build the Children’s Center from more than 350 different donors. All but one of the donors was private (Pulaski County provided funding for environmental remediation of the building site, a newly-acquired piece of land adjacent to Our House’s existing campus). The J.E. & L.E. Mabee Foundation was one of the largest donors, issuing a $665,000 challenge grant contingent upon raising the full construction costs by April 10, 2013. With this announcement, the terms of the Mabee challenge grant have been met.

The funds raised to date will cover the cost of construction of the 19,367 square foot center.

Our House is still raising additional funds to cover the costs of playgrounds, furnishings, and equipment for the new building.

Construction on the new center will begin next month and will take about 11 months to complete.

Tuesday, April 9, 2013

LITTLE ROCK — Former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton are scheduled to attend a May 3 ceremony to mark the first phase of renovations at the Little Rock airport that bears their names.

The airport announced Tuesday that its first round of renovations is nearly complete. Those renovations include a larger and modernized ticket lobby and a new baggage-screening system.

The ceremony will also serve as a formal dedication of the airport’s new name. Last year, the Little Rock Municipal Airport Commission voted to rename the facility as the Bill and Hillary Clinton National Airport.

Both Clintons are scheduled to attend the event. The airport says the ceremony is open to the public, but those who wish to attend must request a free ticket from the airport.

4/8/13

The Arkansas Legislature has approved House Bill 1870, which will allow several incentives and obligation bonds to be used in the construction of the Big River Steel plant in Osceola.

The House passed the bill in a 78-17 vote Monday. Two members did not vote.

Senate and House committees on Agriculture, Forestry and Economic Development approved the bill last week, and the Senate passed its version of the bill in a 26-6 vote Tuesday.

The incentives authorized by the bill, proposed by Rep. Monte Hodges, D-Blytheville, include a $70 million grant to fund infrastructure costs for construction, a $50 million loan and a $20 million grant for stabilizing the ground on which the plant will be built, next to the Mississippi River.

The plant’s total construction cost is estimated at $1.1 billion. Big River Steel would employ nearly 525 workers with an average annual salary of about $75,000, according to its chairman and chief executive officer, John Correnti.

All orders fall into compliance with Amendment 82 of the Arkansas Constitution.

The bill will now go to Gov. Mike Beebe for his signature. Beebe spokesman Matt DeCample has said that Beebe would sign the bill into law.

Arkansas Democrat Gazette

4/4/13

Legislation to expand health insurance to 250,000 low-income Arkansans passed out of a Senate committee Wednesday as sponsoring legislators worked to clarify an idea that has driven much of the 2013 session.

With little discussion. the Senate Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee approved Senate Bill 1020, sponsored by Sen. Jonathan Dismang, R-Beebe. An identical bill – House Bill 1143, sponsored by Rep. John Burris, R-Harrison – has also been filed.

The Senate will meet as a whole Friday to ask questions of the Department of Human Services and other state agencies regarding the bill, Dismang said. He expects the Senate to vote immediately, he added.

“We want everyone to be comfortable with their decision and make sure that everyone has all the information they need,” Dismang said.

At a second meeting held late Wednesday, comments largely came from the handful of lawmakers who have been heavily involved in negotiations on the bills.

Legislators said many members are getting answers in private.

“I think that a lot of folks probably do have their minds made up on the issue. I don’t even want to try to guess what that [number] would be,” Dismang said after the afternoon meeting.

Legislators are trying to determine whether to expand access to a quarter million poor Arkansans by letting them use government funds to purchase private health insurance, put that group in the traditional Medicaid program or do nothing, which would leave a large portion of the group without health care.

In July, the U.S. Supreme Court struck down part of the 2010 federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act and let states choose whether to extend Medicaid access to individuals who earn up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level, or $15,145 annually.

The same law calls for states to set up private-insurance marketplaces called exchanges from which people can pick their own insurance plan. If the Legislature goes with the plan contained in the House and Senate bills, low-income Arkansans would buy insurance through the exchange.

In February, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius gave Gov. Mike Beebe spoken approval to pursue a method of using federal Medicaid funds to pay premiums on private insurance policies. Arkansas was the first state to propose such a plan.

On Tuesday, Sebelius wrote in a half-page letter that the Health and Human Services Department will help Arkansas provide government-funded private health insurance to those who make up to 138 percent of the federal poverty level.

Called the “private option” at the Capitol, the proposal has been endorsed by Beebe and the heads of the House and Senate, as well as the state Chamber of Commerce and other interest groups.

On Wednesday, the Arkansas Chapter of Americans for Prosperity announced that it opposes the private option, saying it adds people to a broken Medicaid system. Americans for Prosperity describes its mission as “educating citizens about economic policy and mobilizing those citizens as advocates in the public policy process.”

Dismang stressed during the afternoon meeting that several other bills have been filed or approved this session to overhaul the state’s current Medicaid system. That includes a new Medicaid inspector general office, which has passed the House.

The private option is also expected to shrink the state’s existing Medicaid program, state Department of Human Services Director John Selig said.

Burris, who is also chairman of the House Public Health, Welfare and Labor Committee, estimated 100,000 people on the current Medicaid program would eventually be transferred to the private option, under the bills in their current form.

That includes about 75,000 children on ARKids B, who would be transferred to their parents’ insurance plan in 2015. The other 25,000 would include those who have incomes below 17 percent of the federal poverty level and from the closure of programs that provide insurance for a short time.

“I can see the possibility that Medicaid gets back to really what it started with, which is really people with disabilities, seniors, and the healthy population is in the private sector and not on Medicaid because they are poor,” Selig said. “I’d love to have a smaller program.”

Those eligible for government-funded private insurance would still be Medicaid recipients in the eyes of the federal government and thus would be eligible for any benefits the federal government requires for Medicaid recipients, according to a March 29 memo from the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, a federal agency.

“We are required to make sure they get all of the services that [the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services] requires us to provide,” said Amy Webb, spokesman for the state Department of Human Services.

That means, the state agency would have to “wrap around” private plans that don’t offer all the benefits an individual would receive under the traditional Medicaid program.

But state Medicaid Director Andy Allison said he doesn’t expect that to happen often.

Department officials have stressed that they want to keep medically frail clients or those with high medical costs from participating in the exchange through the private option. That would keep premiums low for those on the exchange and make sure those who need a high level of medical attention receive it to federal standards.

Instead, those people would stay on the traditional Medicaid program, Allison said.

“Some will have high needs, some will need some in-home care, some will need transportation,” Allison said. “It’s essentially a moot question for those who participate because those with the highest needs for whom it would be relevant will just remain in the traditional Medicaid program.”

Just because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services requires a comparable level of benefits does not mean those who have the government pay for their plan will have a plan any different than someone paying for a plan himself, Allison said.

“This is not sort of a Medicaid plan within the exchange,” he said. “We’re placing these folks in the private marketplace, and I don’t expect there to be discrimination either way. This is private insurance and those who participate in the exchange will see individuals enroll regardless of the source of funding.”

Doctors likely won’t be aware which patients have purchased their own plan and which patients have a plan paid for through the government, Allison said.

The pending legislation requires the government to pay for a “silver level” or medium-level coverage. Individuals may choose a higher level plan, but Webb said they would have to pay for the difference between the silver plan and, for example, a gold level plan.

On the exchange, cost-sharing methods such as co-pays are capped based on income guidelines in federal rules.

Without the private option, Allison said, people on the exchange whose income is between 100 percent and 138 percent of the federal poverty level could be charged 6 percent of the total cost of the service they received. With the private option, that population can be charged up to 5 percent of their income for a service.