A legislative panel Tuesday endorsed the state's requests to use $6.39 million in federal coronavirus relief funds to help assisted living facilities and $3 million to aid travel, tourism and outdoor recreation interests in Arkansas.
Several members of the Legislative Council's Performance Evaluation and Expenditure Review Subcommittee raised questions about the requests from the two agencies -- the Department of Human Services and the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism -- but then recommended that the Legislative Council approve the requests at its meeting Friday.
In total, the subcommittee endorsed requests from several agencies to spend about $49.4 million in federal Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act funds and from various state agencies, colleges and universities to spend about $47.3 million in federal American Rescue Plan funds.
In March 2020, then-President Donald Trump signed the $2 trillion Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act.
In March of this year, President Joe Biden signed the $1.9 trillion coronavirus relief measure called the American Rescue Plan Act.
The Department of Human Services' request for CARES funds said the money will help cover unreimbursed covid-19 costs at assisted living facilities.
The department will provide $7,700 per occupied Medicaid bed to each qualified facility to help with meeting the continued extraordinary staffing needs during the pandemic, department Secretary Cindy Gillespie told the state's CARES Act steering committee earlier this month.
Mark White, the department's chief of staff, told lawmakers Tuesday that hospitals and nursing homes have been provided federal coronavirus relief funds to help cover similar needs, and assisted living facilities have experienced the same issues.
The assisted living facilities have struggled with recruiting and retaining staffing, and responded by increasing salaries during the pandemic, he said.
Also during the pandemic, the assisted living facilities have seen fewer private pay patients, and their Medicaid patient ranks haven't dropped as much, he said.
White said the reimbursements to assisted living facilities will be based on the number of Medicaid clients they served in January and will help cover payroll costs.
Rep. Michelle Gray, R-Melbourne, asked White to guarantee that these reimbursements will be above the ordinary staff salaries in 2018 and 2019.
White said the reimbursements will go toward overall salary expenses for the facilities, and this request is comparable to a previous request for reimbursements for nursing homes' covid-19 expenses on a per-bed basis.
RECREATION REQUEST
The Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism's request for $3 million in American Rescue Plan funds would put the money toward supporting the travel, tourism and outdoor recreation sectors in Arkansas as part of the U.S. Economic Development Administration's implementation of the American Rescue Plan Act, according to the department.
The department said it plans to spend $1.5 million on brand development and paid media; $560,000 on outdoor recreation; $500,000 on marketing and promotional items; $350,000 on transformational development planning; $75,000 on visitor engagement; and $75,000 on workforce training.
Travis Napper, director of the department's Division of Tourism, told lawmakers that the funds were based on a formula that considered the direct impact of the pandemic on travel, tourism and outdoor recreation industries.
The department said it would enlist an outside consultant and representatives from each development region to create a strategic plan that reinforces the state's vision for tourism-related economic development in the short and long term.
Among other things, the strategic plan will include outlining "diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives that reach underserved communities and populations to further stimulate tourism-related economic growth in adversely affected areas across the state," according to the Department of Parks, Heritage and Tourism.
Several lawmakers said they want to know what messaging will be used by the department.
"We want to get some indication of what message you are putting out," said Sen. Terry Rice, R-Waldron. In the eagerness to get federal funds, state agencies sometimes agree to do things that probably a majority of the Legislature would disagree with, he said.
Napper said he didn't have a problem with the Legislature reviewing the messaging used by the department.
He said the messaging will welcome all types of visitors that would benefit the state.
Sen. Kim Hammer, R-Benton, asked whether the messaging would be welcoming to people with diverse lifestyles.
Napper said state officials will evaluate what fits and what is right for the state.
The consultant will be hired through a request for proposal procurement and the proposed contract for the consultant will be reviewed by the Legislative Council, he said.