Committee adopts fiscal-impact procedures under Act 112; Segal Group to prepare health-plan impact statements

Jill Thayer of the Bureau of Legislative Research told the Senate Insurance & Commerce Committee that the Legislative Council adopted procedures in October and that Act 112 (2022) imposes a 15-day bill-filing trigger for bills that affect state health benefit plans. Thayer said the bureau has contracted Segal Group to prepare the fiscal-impact statements required by law and that Segal will present those statements to the committee in person or via Zoom as authorized by the chair.

Thayer summarized the process: Segal will monitor filed bills, identify ones that require a fiscal-impact statement, notify the bureau, and the bureau will notify the committee chair; the chair will then check with the bill sponsor and, if the sponsor intends to move forward, authorize Segal to proceed. "Under the act, the committees cannot take up a bill that requires 1 of these fiscal impacts until you have it back in front of you," Thayer said.

Senator Mark Johnson asked whether a bill can be filed prior to the completion of a fiscal-impact statement. Thayer said yes — filing may occur — but reaffirmed that the committee cannot consider a bill that requires the report until the fiscal-impact statement is completed and returned. Thayer also noted the filing deadline referenced in the meeting as the 23rd that, because of a four-day recess, effectively moved to the 27th.

Thayer listed the entities covered for these purposes as EBD (public school and state employees) and several institutions of higher education; she named the University of Arkansas system, the ASU system and UCA as examples and said some institutions have self-funded plans and that she has most MOUs 'completed' but the MOU with EBD was still outstanding at the time of the meeting.

The committee approved the procedures by motion (moved by Senator Ervin and seconded by Senator Johnson). The committee recorded the voice vote as 'Aye' and the chair declared the procedures adopted.

Next steps recorded in the meeting: finalize outstanding MOUs to allow Segal access to plan data, and schedule Segal presentations when chair authorization is given.