Joint Retirement Committee

February 6, 2023

Rep Warren: The Chair sees a quorum. Those wishing to speak for or against a bill please make sure you sign in. Welcome, everybody. Glad to have you here this Monday morning. My Co-Chair, would you like to make any comments?

Sen Payton: Good morning.

Rep Warren: Sounds good. We’ve got six bills to hear this morning, so we’ll just go straight to that. First up, House Bill 1183. Representative Maddox, you are recognized. Let me make one brief announcement before you start, Representative Maddox. 

Everybody should have a sheet of paper on your desk. What this is, is an additional disclosure to Committee Reports for the reports that Osborn, Carriero and Associates do with the actuarial studies. This has to be done with every study that they do for us, so instead of attaching one to every study, I’ve just asked that one be put in everybody’s folder. So this goes with every report that we get from this firm on actuarial studies, any questions? Okay, Representative Maddox, you’re recognized to present. Oh, I’m sorry.

Sen Chesterfield: Point of clarity please, Mr. Chair. As a member of both APERS and ATRS do I need to fully disclose that before I vote on issues? I thought I would. Probably everybody in here is a member of one of them but I thought I’d say that I’m a member of both. 

Rep Warren: I think that’s good. 

Sen Chesterfield: You are very welcome. 

Rep Warren: Thank you for making that known.

Sen Chesterfield: And I will be voting in that. 

Rep Warren: Representative Maddox, you can go now. 

Rep Maddox: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Mr. Chairman, I’ve asked Mr. Rhoden and Ms. Liwo to join me at the table. 

Rep Warren: If you would please identify yourselves. 

Rhoden ATRS:Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Clint Rhoden, Executive Director, Arkansas Teacher Retirement System. 

Liwo ATRS: Jennifer Liwo, General Counsel, Arkansas Teacher Retirement System.

Rep Warren: Thank you. You’re recognized to present. 

Rep Maddox: Thank you, Mr. Chair. House Bill 1183 is a technical cleanup bill that was brought to me by Teacher Retirement. All this bill does is remove some obsolete language. There is no fiscal impact that has any material effect on the system. 

Rep Warren: Okay, Representative Maddox has presented his bill. Are there any questions from the Committee? Oh, I’m sorry. Here we go, Representative Collins, you’re recognized.

Rep Collins: Thank you, Mr. Chair. So I think I read in maybe one of these actuarial studies that all of the current employers are surcharge employers, there’s no one who’s opted to become a covered employer for purposes of this. Has that always been the case even prior to right now, have there ever been any employers that have made the other option?

Rep Maddox: I would like to defer to Mr. Rhoden for this question.

Rhoden ATRS: Yes. Representative Collins, there has been no employer that has ever opted to pay the full 15% on their outsourced services. It was provided in 2017 as an option. It is never expected that they would ever go this route. We just want to clean that section up. 

Rep Maddox: Thank you. 

Rep Warren: Representative Hickey, you’re recognized. I’m sorry, Senator Hickey. 

Sen Hickey: Thank you, sir. 

Rep Warren I’m trying to demote you. 

Sen Hickey: I’m fine either way. Just a question, I heard you say technical cleanups all this was and maybe that’s the case but maybe you’re going to have to explain to me on page 3, this 4%, does that go along with what the old language of the bill was because I’m sitting here trying to – I guess E is what we would have been under is that correct, an amount not to exceed 4% during the 2022 fiscal year, is that what you did is you just?

Rhoden ATRS: Yes, Senator. So when we put this in, in 2017 there was a phase-in surcharge that ramped up over the years. We have hit the maximum 4% at this point. The phase-in schedule is no longer necessary. 

Sen Hickey: Okay. And again, I know that was in the other language that you could use it but as far as from a cash flow type standpoint, is that just enough to cover where you’re at whatever you’re using the money for or is it exceeding what it needs? What are the calculations with that so that we’ll know? 

Rhoden ATRS: Right. So the 4% was just the maximum that was negotiated when the bill was first passed. It helps offset the missing employer contribution for these outsourced services. Obviously, I mean, it’s not the full 15% but these individuals are also not getting a Teacher Retirement benefit, so this is just helping with the unfunded liabilities. 

Sen Hickey: Okay, that makes sense there. And just one more thing, and I assume under 7 through 11 on page 4, the System, they were the ones that have been calculating that all this time, so we’re just putting in there to make sure that we know that they’re the ones that do it or–? 

Rhoden ATRS: Yes. We put this section in here for– I mean, we are at the maximum 4% but we didn’t want to lock the board in to always having that 4% if for some reason in the future they decided to even lower it for whatever reason. This would just allow them a little optionality but it can’t go over the 4% that is in the statute. 

Sen Hickey: Okay. Thank you, sir. 

Rep Warren: Other questions? Do we have anyone in the audience signed up to speak for or against the bill? Okay, Senator Chesterfield what did you say? Okay. Senator Hickey, you’re recognized. 

Sen Hickey: Just to make 100% sure, over on line 5 it said, “the board may promulgate rules necessary to administer this section.” All of that was done right, as far as that, they promulgated the rules already?

Rhoden ATRS: Yes. That is correct. 

Sen Hickey: Thank you. 

Rep Warren: Representative Maddox, do you want to close for your bill?

Rep Maddox: Mr. Chairman, I’m closed for my bill. 

Rep Warren: Okay. All right, we have a motion do pass. Any discussion? I’m sorry, and a second. All right, all those in favor say– any discussion first? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed same sign. Your motion carries. All right. 

Rep Maddox: Thank you, Mr. Chair. 

Rep Warren: You’re up again, Mr. Maddox, House Bill 1184.

Rep Maddox: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Obviously, I’m going to ask them to stay at the table with me. I’ll try to do a little bit of explanation on this one. The effect of this bill is to ensure equal treatment of full-time employees regardless of their date of hire. Current law could be interpreted to say that a full-time employee hired subsequent to the start of the year could have the option of becoming non-contributory, whereas a full-time person hired at the start of the year does not have this option. So all this bill is doing is equalizing the treatment between these two groups.

Rep Warren: Okay, Representative Maddox has explained the bill, Senator Chesterfield, you’re recognized.

Sen Chesterfield: It equalizes in what way, sir? 

Rep Maddox: Mr. Rhoden, would you answer that, please? 

Rhoden ATRS: Yes, ma’am. So equalize in the sense of the full-time teachers are required by law to be contributory but in my opinion due to the fact that we have the law that says if you have a contract that’s less than 185 days that’s all the current law says and we have no wiggle room on it. So if they get hired a month into the school district and they have a 170 day contract because that’s the number of days left in the year, technically, they would be available to have the non-contributory option. And this just closes that loophole and treats everybody equally. 

Rep Warren: Other questions? All right, do we have anyone in the audience wishes to speak for or against the bill? All right, seeing none, Representative Maddox, are you ready to close for your bill? 

Rep Maddox: Yes, Mr. Chair, I’m closed for my bill. 

Rep Warren: All right, do we have a motion? All right motion, and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Motion carries. Congratulations, Representative Maddox, your second bill has passed. 

Rep Maddox: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Rep Warren: All right, at this time we’re going to move on to House Bill 1199. Representative Perry, you’re recognized to present this bill. All right, Representative Perry, you’re recognized 

Rep Perry: Thank you, Mr. Chairman, Committee members. I’ve asked them to stay at the table with us. We have House Bill 1199, which is refund unused purchase credit. And so this bill does not reduce any benefits for any ATRS member or beneficiary. What this bill is doing is codifying the existing practice for refunding payments for purchased service. In all cases a purchase service credit at the member’s request, payment for the service credit shall be refunded if the member ceases to be an active member before the service credit is established in the system or the service credit is not otherwise used to establish eligibility under the system, effectively canceling the entire transaction. And there’s not any material financial impact on this bill.

Rep Warren: All right, Representative Perry has presented the bill. Do we have any questions? Representative Rye, you’re recognized.

Rep Rye: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Let me ask you this, does this apply like in a situation where if a person is a teacher in Arkansas, moved to another state and they’re probably not going to teach anymore, can they just cash out what they actually paid in or what? 

Rhoden ATRS: Yes, Representative Rye. So this bill’s not specifically for that scenario when a teacher moves out of the state they’re eligible for a refund of their services. It could come into play if they moved back to Arkansas and decided they wanted to repurchase some of that purchase or that refund. And they get halfway through, and they decide oh, I don’t really want this, we will give them a refund. Or even if they pay the whole thing off early and stay for many, many more years, to the point that they actually don’t need that purchase serviced in their calculation we can also refund that. 

This bill essentially, that practice was done, has always been done for all types of purchases at ATRS but when we analyzed the code, some of the purchase types had this language in it and some did not. And this bill is simply putting that same refund language across all the different purchase types.

Rep Rye: Follow-up, please. The reason I asked you, Clint, I know someone that went through that, and that’s just the way that it works. I mean, I guess if they want to cash it out they can but sometimes they come back over here and want to teach school and they’ve already cashed that out, they’re going to take a pretty good hit on what’s going on here aren’t they? 

Rhoden ATRS: Yes, sir. It is purchase of service is very expensive at this point because it is actuarial service, actuarial equivalence, yes. 

Rep Rye: Thank you, Clint. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Rep Warren: All right, other questions? Do we have anybody in the audience that wishes to speak for or against the bill? Representative Perry, would you like to close for your bill? 

Rep Perry: I’ll be closed.

Rep Warren: All right, do we have a motion? Got a motion. Do we have a second? All right, we have a motion and a second, any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed? Your motion has passed. The bill passed, sorry. All right, let’s move on to your next one, Representative Perry, House Bill 1200. 

Rep Perry: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. House Bill 1200 is dealing with the military, free military, and purchased service. This bill again does not reduce any benefits for an ATRS member or beneficiary. And this bill provides for members who have served in the United States armed forces during a period that a military draft was in effect to receive up to five years of free service credit before retirement regardless of their current ATRS active status. This bill also allows for members to purchase federal service credit and to convert non-contributory service to contributory service before retirement regardless of their current active status. And there’s not a financial impact to the system.

Rep Warren: Okay, we have one question here. Senator Johnson, you’re recognized. 

Sen M Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Representative Perry, hope this is a simple question. It talks about during a period that a federal military draft was in effect. Do we have one in effect now, we have registration, does that count as having an effect or does this actually require a time when individuals were actually being conscripted?

Rep Perry: I’ll defer to.

Sen M Johnson: Okay. Thank you.

Rhoden ATRS: No, Senator, we do not have a draft currently. Selective Service process is not what we’re talking about. So 1973, I believe was the last compulsory service period that we had.

Sen M Johnson: I remember it well. I just didn’t know what the definition was. 

Rhoden ATRS: So questions are why we’re even looking at this. Mathematically it is still possible there could be a few veterans out there that fit this category, that have not reached the required minimum distribution age yet, which is 70, going up to 75. And right now, they would actually have to be an active member in ATRS as an active employed member, which seems a little ridiculous to me. So we have just made it where regardless of your status you’re eligible for this service.

Sen M Johnson: Since I was in that last little wave of those that were exposed, I still remember my draft lottery number. But I understand exactly what you’re saying it makes perfect sense, looks like a good bill, Representative Perry.

Rep Perry: Thank you. 

Sen M Johnson: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Rep Warren: Senator Payton, you’re recognized. 

Sen Payton: Thank you. I guess my question is about the 5 years credit or free years or however you refer to that. So could a beneficiary that’s currently retired and receiving benefits receive an increase from that because now they have eligibility to add five years?

Rhoden ATRS:: So all of this service is up and to the point of retirement. That’s all the credit service that you can get. Once you make the decision to retire that locks in your retirement.

Sen Payton: Okay, so it can’t get added on later then? Okay, thank you. 

Rep Warren: Any other questions? Do we have anyone in the audience that would like to speak for or against the bill? Representative Perry, are you ready to close for your bill?

Rep Perry: I’m closed for my bill. 

Rep Warren: Okay, do you have a question? All right, you’re recognized, Senator Hickey.

Sen Hickey: I don’t want to pick this to death but this is something I don’t know. So on page 2, it says on line 28, 29 says “becomes an active member after an honorable discharge.” So that’s the other way, is that correct? So if they’ve served in the military and then they’re coming in here, they don’t have to stay with us for a certain amount of time? I guess my question is do we need any time limitations on that, we just say active member, so if somebody’s an active member for 90 days is that what we want?

Rhoden ATRS: Actually, the free military service, that has been a part of ATRS for since I can remember. You’ve always had to be vested. So you have to be vested first and then if you are eligible for that service it gets added on.

Sen Hickey: That makes sense then. So we have that under another code section somewhere? 

Rhoden ATRS: It’s probably in a section that’s not edited or not modified by this bill.

Sen Hickey: That makes sense. 

Rhoden ATRS: That is the requirement. Yes, sir.

Sen Hickey: Thank you, sir, 

Rep Warren: All right, any other questions? All right, you’re closed for your bill?

Rep Perry: Yes, sir. 

Rep Warren: All right, did we have a motion? All right, we got a motion. Do we have a second? All right, motion, and a second. Any discussion? All those in favor say aye. Any opposed same sign. Your bill passes, congratulations. 

Rep Perry: Thank you. Thank you, sir. 

Rep Warren: You are but let me sign. You all bear with us just a couple of minutes. I’ve got to sign off on some bills and then I’ve got to swap with my Co-Chair.

Sen Payton: Representative Warren, you are recognized to present House Bill 1202. 

Rep Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. I would ask that these two please remain at the table with me. This bill is actually clarifying what actual Arkansas Teacher Retirement System practice is with respect to the multiplier, which is a component that is used in determining your actual retirement pay. For the first 10 years in the system, the multiplier can be lower. After you get the 10 years, the board can increase the multiplier for those 10 years, as well as future years. 

The way the law was written could be seen as redundant. This bill will take out the unnecessary language. In order to make this effective with the next fiscal year which will begin July 1st, 2023 we’re asking for an emergency clause to make sure it is there from the start of the new fiscal year. 

Sen Payton: Thank you, Representative Warren. Are there any questions by the Committee? Seeing none, is anybody in the audience signed up to speak for or against this bill? Representative Warren, would you like to close for your bill? 

Rep Warren: I’m closed. I would ask for a good vote. 

Sen Payton: What’s the pleasure of the Committee? I have a motion do pass and a second. Any discussion? All in favor say aye. Any opposed? Congratulations, your bill has passed. 

Rep Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Committee. 

Sen Payton: Thank you, Representative Warren. You are recognized to present Senate Bill 115. 

Rep Warren: All right. Thank you, Mr. Chair. This is several pieces to this. We’re clarifying survivor application deadlines. We’re clarifying a dependent child’s ability to receive a dependent child annuity when the child is called to active military duty or training. We’re clarifying a dependent child’s eligibility for dependent child annuity and when the child’s parent has retired but returns to work under a covered employer. And we need to do this with an emergency clause so it’s effective with the next fiscal year for the state. So basically, it’s just making sure we’re taking care of the children’s benefits for retirees. It needed to be cleaned up and we’re doing that with this bill.

Sen Payton: Thank you, Representative Warren. Any questions from the Committee? Senator Chesterfield, you’re recognized for a question.

Sen Chesterfield: Mr. Chair, looking at line 12 on page 2, “by the end of the sixth full calendar month following the date on which the application required under subdivision this section and any additional documentation.” Is the sixth full calendar month traditionally there? How long has it been before that a person could deal with this particular issue, how much time did they have?

Rep Warren: It had been three months. 

Sen Chesterfield: So this is stretching it a bit? 

Rep Warren: What we’re trying to do is – and I apologize, I should have pointed that out – we’re giving them 6 months and it begins the month after the disability. All right, let me pass to Jennifer on this to make sure I get it correct. 

Liwo ATRS: Okay, so what the system was doing was giving applicants six months to file an application and all accompanying documents, 6 months would have been for example, if they applied on July 1, they would have until January 1. Stretching it to 6 full calendar months just gives them until the end of the last sixth calendar month to submit the application and documents. It just gives them more time to get everything in. 

Sen Chesterfield: Well, thank you. That makes sense to me. Thank you. 

Rep Warren: And there is a provision, Senator, that if for some reason they didn’t get it in the 6 months they can go to the executive director for a waiver.

Sen Payton: Representative Rye, you are recognized for a question. 

Rep Rye: Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Clint, in a situation where if you have a husband and wife, and let’s just say the husband had 20 years of service and he died, what happens to that spouse as far as the retirement is concerned?

Rhoden ATRS: So Representative Rye, so in that particular scenario, it really matters whether say the husband in your example is still an active member. So if they actually die in active service that is particularly what this bill is dealing with. It covers both the spousal survivor benefit and the dependent children benefit. So the spouse will essentially get, it depends on his,- it’s not his service but it’s his age. So once he would have turned 60, as long as they’ve been married for 2 years, then she would get a spousal benefit. 

Now that’s the general rule. We also look at the beneficiary statement that the member filled out. So in the case where if he did not have his spouse on like actually, he had declared his parents to be the residue beneficiary, we would look at that first. And in that case, the person that he designated on his beneficiary form would actually have to waive that benefit and then the spousal benefit would pick up. It gets more complicated than that. I’m glad to do any follow-ups you’d like to do. 

Rep Rye: Okay, I’m going to follow up, sir. 

Sen Payton: You’re recognized for a follow-up. 

Rep Rye: Yes, sir. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. Would it be basically half the amount as the member would be actually drawing for the retirement for the wife or husband? How would that be percentage-wise?

Rhoden ATRS: So it’s calculated on, they get their benefit calculated with their service and it is the full benefit, it’s not half of the benefit. It’s what we call our Option A benefit. But it is based on his service and then she’s eligible at the time he would have turned 60 or his time of death if he already was over 60. Does that make sense?

Rep Rye: Thank you, Clint. That’s a good explanation. Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 

Sen Payton: Senator Hickey, you’re recognized for a question. 

Sen Hickey: Yes, sir. Okay, top of page 2 under the old language, it says that “they shall be paid to the eligible survivors.” So let me ask you this – and the only reason I’m doing this is because of APERS have kind of been discussing this and I don’t know if we need to try to make sure we’re consistent across all these or not. So if somebody doesn’t apply, let’s say they apply in month 5. Okay, so it says that it’ll be paid – there’s going to be or are you going to accrue up to month 5 and whenever they apply you’re going to pay the back benefits all the way from there or are you just going to start paying at that time?

Rhoden ATRS: Yes, Senator. Our practice is we pay benefits from the month after the time of death. And if it takes 5 months, sometimes these actually take longer than 5 or 6 months depending on how extreme the circumstances are, but it is a retroactive payment back to the time of death once we get the full application process sorted out. 

Sen Hickey: And it’s somewhere within this language or somewhere else or are we just doing that by practice? So in other words, do we have it somewhere that it will accrue so if somebody dies but you don’t hear from the survivor till month 5, you don’t know where to send the check of course. So we’re just holding the money but once they apply in month 5, you’re actually going to send that lump sum back to them at that time once all of that’s correct, and is that in the statute, or is that just your practice?

Rhoden ATRS: I’ll ask Jennifer if it’s somewhere else in the code, but I know it’s our practice.

Sen Hickey: All right.

Liwo ATRS: It’s in the statute. Perhaps not the way that you stated it but it’s the language in the statute leads to that result. 

Sen Hickey: Okay. I’d like to know – I mean, I’m okay with we go ahead with this – I just, I’d like to make sure all of this stuff is if we’re going to do this, that we’re consistent with it across all these plans because what it sounds like to me with some of this that we’re not. We’ve kind of been all over the board with it and no disrespect to anybody there, it’s just it’s hard to think about this. Okay, so one other thing. So it says that there– if that’s okay, Mr. Chair. 

Sen Payton: Yes, you’re recognized for a follow-up.

Sen Hickey: Okay, it says that they’re going to pay it by the end of the sixth– or that they will do it by the end of the sixth full calendar month. What if it gets to be 7 months and they haven’t applied for it, so are they out and they lose it?

Rep Warren: No, sir. 6 months is the extension that’s being given from the 3 months that it has been. If at the end of 6 months, they haven’t made an application, they have to go through the executive director of ATRS and to explain, hey, no one told me this benefit existed. Clint or whoever is in that position has the ability to hear and make a judgment call at that point. 

Sen Hickey: Clint, I might be okay with you doing that. I don’t know who’s going to be sitting there 10 years from now. So does it say the executive director or is it your board or somebody would, is there any type of appeal process from the director after that? 

Rhoden ATRS: So how we do this now is up until now it said the system could waive the deadline up until the point that the deadline has passed. So that’s within the powers of the executive director. Once a deadline has passed, the director has no ability to waive a deadline, that’s the board has to do that. So we’ve had a few circumstances just like what you’re talking about, deadlines weren’t met, it just meant we had an extra step where we had to take those scenarios to the board and let the full board make the decision to waive the deadline because that’s in their powers. So that’s the process is it’s just simply taken to the board at that point. 

Sen Hickey: Okay. And I’m going down a rabbit trail here just a little bit but that’s okay. So, I don’t know if there’s ever a, I don’t ever know what the reason would be that they wouldn’t pay it. So, I mean, have you all ever done that? I mean, if you get with the board and somebody has been eight years, I mean, they’re not going to pay it at that time or I mean, I guess that’s going to be their decision, and you have to have some cutoffs. But I guess the thing is, is I just, I don’t know if the board with that type of stuff needs to develop some type of rules so that they’ll stay consistent or what. So that’s more just a little bit of a suggestion or a thought. Like I say, I don’t know what that reason would ever be, and then if there is that reason how they’re going to maintain that consistency from person to person after that. Thanks for the explanation. Thank you. 

Rhoden ATRS: Thank you. 

Sen Payton: I’d like to say thank you, Senator Hammer and Clint. I don’t know exactly how much of that is governed specifically by this bill or what’s being changed in this bill but just for a little housekeeping, Members, I mean, we all need a lot of latitude to learn as much as we can about this. Unless I have 3 or 4 people in the queue, I’ll give you plenty of room to explore those options. Senator Murdock, you’re recognized for a question.

Sen Murdock: Thank you, Chair. And mine was along the line of what Senator Hickey,  he took me most of the way down that road – but there’s a little bit that I’m just concerned about this. Along the lines which you just mentioned Chair, is there ever really– I guess is there ever a time that we would not pay a survivors their benefits? You know, 8 years whatever number it is, there are lots of reasons why people may not meet that 6 month or whatever that term is determined but are we prepared for if whatever period that that eligible survivor shows up that they will get that benefit? Or do we need to do something from a legislative standpoint to ensure that that happens? I guess that’s my bigger question. 

Rhoden ATRS: Okay, Senator Murdock. Yes, so thank you for all- I mean, thank y’all both for expressing your concern about our survivors as I have those same concerns, the board has those concerns. We have not had a case where we’ve ever, to my knowledge that we’ve ever had a survivor scenario where it wasn’t paid off. 

Sen Murdock: People usually come get their benefits. 

Rhoden ATRS: They’re going to get their benefits. It’s just there’s a process that we have to go through in order to– we need deadlines so people apply for these in a timely manner but there is a process obviously to waive those deadlines, to extend those deadlines, and to make sure that the members are taken care of. You know, this is one of these bills that we added a little bit of cost to our system because we added a few fairness circumstances to our survivors because we really do care about this benefit. 

Sen Murdock: Thank you.

Rhoden ATRS: I hope that helps. 

Sen Murdock: Yeah, that helps. And I think what you’re saying is at the end of the day, they will be able to get the benefit. They just may have to go through a couple of meetings or whatever to defend why they had not shown up. Thank you. Chair.

Rep Warren: And I would just add too, I appreciate both comments. What I would say is that in working with all 4 of the systems, these are kind of comments that I know that they appreciate because they like to have the uniformity and consistency across the systems because we don’t like to say well, that system offers this, y’all are treating us differently. These are good topics that frequently we sit and discuss. So that it’s like the State of Arkansas handles these all the same. So that is great information that we can make sure that– and I know Senator Hickey, we have had an issue we’ve talked about with APERS, so that’s excellent information. 

And I know like in case with teachers that they are reaching out to these people to get them to apply for the benefits, and it’s a matter of just not responding, not responding. So they’re trying to get them to get the benefits. And in this case, they’re just making it where instead of going to the board, the executive director can now deal with it instead of having to go to another step.

Sen Payton: Seeing no other questions, is there anybody in the audience signed up to speak for or against this bill? Representative Warren, are you closed for the bill?

Rep Warren: I am closed and appreciate a good vote. 

Sen Payton: What’s the will of the Committee? I have a motion do pass and a second. Any discussion on the motion? All in favor say aye. Any opposed, like sign. Congratulations your bill has passed.

Rep Warren: Thank you, Mr. Chair. Thank you, Committee. 

Sen Payton: I think that concludes the business. Appreciate y’all showing up so bright and early this morning. We are adjourned.