Joint Funds Committee rejects proposal to scale back Arkansas PBS’ spending authority

A legislative panel on Thursday narrowly rejected a proposed 20% discount to Arkansas PBS’ spending authority for fiscal 12 months 2025.

Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Jonesboro) has repeatedly been important of the publicly funded instructional tv station. He introduced the Joint Funds Committee with an modification to Arkansas PBS’ fiscal 2025 appropriations bill that might have decreased the company’s spending authority for privately raised funds, from $8.96 million to $7.17 million.

Sullivan advised his fellow committee members Thursday that the proposed modification would cut back Arkansas PBS’ spending energy however not the precise amount of cash the company has.

With a view to spend extra money than their appropriation permits, PBS officers must search approval from the Arkansas Legislative Council’s Efficiency Analysis and Expenditure Evaluation (PEER) subcommittee.

“If we have to lower these appropriations to a degree the place individuals have to return to PEER who’ve a historical past of not managing effectively, I feel that’s a very good precedent to set,” Sullivan mentioned.

Lawmakers OK fresh audit into Arkansas PBS’ purchases, procedures as far back as July 2021

PBS directors faced questions from lawmakers final 12 months in regards to the outcomes of a 2022 audit of the company that exposed what auditors thought of questionable buying practices. Auditors and lawmakers expressed issues that PBS officers sidestepped state legal guidelines associated to contract bidding, probably deliberately. CEO Courtney Pledger and her cohorts insisted they’d no such intentions.

In August, a Legislative Joint Auditing subcommittee tabled a potential merit pay raise for Pledger at Sullivan’s urging, citing the shortage of decision of the 2022 audit.

In November, the complete Legislative Joint Auditing Committee approved a contemporary audit to look at greater than two years of “procurements and associated processes” at Arkansas PBS.

Sullivan mentioned Thursday that he didn’t suppose a decreased appropriation would affect the community’s programming. Pledger mentioned this was not essentially true.

“Relying on what can be authorized earlier than PEER, it might or could not severely hamper programming,” she mentioned.

Issues

PBS receives $6.2 million in taxpayer {dollars} but in addition operates with cash from grants and donations. Sullivan’s modification would have utilized solely to the personal funds, and he mentioned the Legislature ought to oversee how state companies spend cash from all sources.

Sen. Clarke Tucker (D-Little Rock) mentioned he discovered this “counterintuitive.”

“We’ve got an company right here that dietary supplements the cash they obtain via normal income via their very own grit,” Tucker mentioned. “That’s the kind of conduct we should always encourage amongst state companies, and right here we’re saying, ‘If you wish to spend the cash that you simply get by yourself, you’re going to have to return and kiss the ring.’”

Tucker was certainly one of a number of Democratic lawmakers to vote towards the modification. 4 Republican Home members additionally voted no: Les Eaves of Searcy, Jeff Wardlaw of Hermitage, Jim Wooten of Beebe and Home Speaker Matthew Shepherd of El Dorado.

The committee members who supported Sullivan’s modification have been solely Republicans. Rep. Robin Lundstrum, an Elm Springs Republican and chair of the auditing committee’s state companies subcommittee, referred to as the 2022 audit “a catastrophe” and the proposed modification “extraordinarily useful” and “a measured strategy” to authorities oversight of Arkansas PBS.

Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, mentioned she didn’t count on the Legislature to ever take into account decreasing the spending energy of government department companies resulting from detrimental or questionable findings in an audit.

“I consider [some people] would have had an issue with PBS whether or not they had findings or not,” she mentioned. “I feel these issues accrue from some people who find themselves disgruntled, maybe moderately so, however I don’t need us to set a precedent whereby each time we do one thing to an company we don’t like, we’d deal with them otherwise than another companies.”

Chesterfield additionally reminded Sullivan that he has mentioned equal therapy is vital to him.

Sullivan sponsored a invoice final 12 months to finish affirmative motion in Arkansas, calling it “state-sponsored discrimination” that impeded the power to guage Arkansans on advantage. The invoice narrowly passed the Senate however was voted down within the Home.

Previous laws

Rep. Nicole Clowney (D-Fayetteville) mentioned she remembered Sullivan attempting to scale back Arkansas PBS’ spending authority throughout the 2022 fiscal session; Sullivan mentioned he took subject with “being accused” of this.

In February 2022, Sullivan launched a bill that might have lower the community’s appropriations for each personal and state funds by a cumulative 25%. The invoice died within the Joint Funds Committee on the finish of the fiscal session.

Sullivan mentioned in an interview after Thursday’s committee assembly that he didn’t bear in mind his causes for introducing the 2022 invoice.

In response to Clowney’s questions, Sullivan mentioned the Legislature ought to be sure that each state company’s spending energy has limits.

He in contrast his proposal to Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders’ proposed fiscal 2025 state price range. The $6.3 billion general revenue budget proposal features a considerably smaller spending enhance — $109 million, or 1.76% — in comparison with earlier fiscal years’ annual 3% hikes. Sanders has touted this as a discount of “authorities’s spiraling development.”

Lawmakers postpone vote on cash appropriation to Arkansas PBS in director’s absence

Clowney mentioned she had “large issues” that PEER wouldn’t approve extra appropriations requests from Arkansas PBS if the company needed to request them. Sullivan mentioned he couldn’t predict any legislative panel’s voting conduct.

In December, PEER tabled an appropriation request from the company as a result of Pledger had been absent at a number of legislative hearings by which PBS was on the agenda. Lawmakers mentioned her absence was disrespectful; the community’s then-chief monetary officer, Karen Watkins, mentioned Pledger missed the December assembly resulting from sickness.

Clowney requested Sullivan if his proposed appropriation lower was resulting from disapproval of any of the community’s programming. Sullivan didn’t reply the query.

In December 2021, Arkansas PBS retracted two requests to enter into federally-funded contracts for instructional programming after Sullivan claimed a producer’s social media posts have been too liberal, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette reported.

Arkansas Advocate is a part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit information community supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Arkansas Advocate maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Sonny Albarado for questions: info@arkansasadvocate.com. Observe Arkansas Advocate on Facebook and Twitter.

The put up Joint Budget Committee rejects proposal to reduce Arkansas PBS’ spending authority appeared first on Arkansas Times.