E.9 REPORT OF THE COMMITTEE ON POLICY MAKING OF THE ARKANSAS LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL November 15, 2019 __________________________________ Senator Linda Chesterfield, Co-Chair Representative Ken Bragg, Co-Chair Senator Scott Flippo, Vice Co-Chair Representative, Dan M. Douglas, Vice Co-Chair Senator Joyce Elliott Representative Jon S. Eubanks Senator Ronald Caldwell Representative Chris Richey Senator Eddie Cheatham Representative Josh Miller Senator Blake Johnson Representative Dan Sullivan Senator Will Bond Representative Marcus E. Richmond Senator Bob Ballinger Representative David Fielding Senator Cecile Bledsoe, ex officio Representative Jeff Wardlaw, ex officio Senator Terry Rice, ex officio Representative Jim Dotson, ex officio __________________________________ Dear Co-Chairs: The Policy Making Subcommittee of the Arkansas Legislative Council met Wednesday, November 13, 2019, at 11:00 a.m. in Room 272 of the State Capitol Building, Little Rock, Arkansas. Co-Chair Linda Chesterfield called the meeting to order and saw a quorum of members present. The members present are listed on the sign-in sheet. Co-Chair Chesterfield recognized Co-Chair Ken Bragg for remarks. Co-Chair Chesterfield recognized Representative Jim Dotson to present on behalf of Senator Jane English, the request to consider and review the contract between the Bureau of Legislative Research and APA Consulting for the provision of Education Adequacy Consulting Services for the benefit of the House and Senate Education Committees (Exhibit B). Representative Dotson stated that Mr. Justin Silverstein, of APA Consulting, was present for any questions and that Ms. Jillian Thayer, Legal Counsel, Bureau of Legislative Research, would provide an overview of the contract. Co- Chair Chesterfield recognized Jillian Thayer to present. Representative Dotson stated that in closing, the proposal had a lot of debate in the Education Committees, and that Senator Cecile Bledsoe would present a motion to the Subcommittee. Co- Chair Chesterfield recognized Senator Bledsoe for a motion. Senator Bledsoe made a motion to authorize the Bureau of Legislative Research to enter negotiations with Schuls & Associates for a Consulting Services Agreement incorporating the terms and conditions of RFP No. BLR-190003 and Schuls’ proposal in response to the REPORT OF THE POLICY MAKING SUBCOMMITTEE Page 2 RFP with the ALC-Executive Subcommittee having final approval of the contract. The approval of the Consultant Services Agreement with APA Consulting is contingent upon approval by the House and Senate Education Committees of use of both Shuls & Associates and APA Consulting to provide education adequacy consulting services to the committees under the RFP. The Bureau of Legislative Research shall not be authorized to enter either of these consultant services contracts unless approval of both contracts is agreed upon by the House and Senate Education Committees. Co-Chair Chesterfield recognized Senator Bob Ballinger for discussion on the motion. Co-Chair Chesterfield then recognized Senator Joyce Elliott for a substitute motion. Senator Elliott made a substitute motion to approve the contract with APA Consulting, as recommended by the Education Committees. Following discussion by the Subcommittee members on the substitute motion, Co-Chair Chesterfield asked for a vote on the substitute motion by roll call. Representative Dotson requested a division of the vote by roll call. After seeing three (3) hands, Co-Chair Chesterfield instructed staff to call the roll by division, beginning with the Senate. The substitute motion failed, due to a failure to receive an affirmative vote of a majority of the Senators present. Co-Chair Chesterfield restated the original motion made by Senator Bledsoe. After further discussion by Subcommittee members, Senator Ballinger asked if Senator Bledsoe and Representative Dotson would consider amending the motion to reflect sending the Shuls’ contract to the full Legislative Council for approval rather than to the Executive Subcommittee. After discussion and consideration of the request, Co-Chair Chesterfield asked members if all agreed that the amendment was a friendly amendment. After full agreement, Senator Bledsoe restated her motion, with the amendment, as follows: Senator Bledsoe made an amended motion to authorize the Bureau of Legislative Research to enter negotiations with Schuls & Associates for a Consulting Services Agreement incorporating the terms and conditions of RFP No. BLR-190003 and Schuls’ proposal in response to the RFP, with the full Legislative Council having final approval of the contract. The approval of the Consultant Services Agreement with APA Consulting is contingent upon approval by the House and Senate Education Committees of use of both Shul’s & Associates and APA Consulting to provide education adequacy consulting services to the committees under the RFP. The Bureau of Legislative Research shall not be authorized to enter either of these consultant services contracts unless approval of both contracts is agreed upon by the House and Senate Education Committees. Co-Chair Chesterfield requested a roll call by division on the amended motion, starting with the House members. The motion passed. There being no further business to come before the subcommittee, the meeting adjourned. Respectfully submitted, REPORT OF THE POLICY MAKING SUBCOMMITTEE Page 3 Senator Linda Chesterfield, Co-Chair and Representative Ken Bragg, Co-Chair LC:KB/sla DRAFT: November 7, 2019 CONSULTANT SERVICES AGREEMENT This Services Agreement (the “Agreement”) is between Augenblick, Palaich and Associates, Inc. (“APA”), located at 1547 Gaylord St., Denver, Colorado 80206, and the Bureau of Legislative Research (“BLR”), located in the State Capitol Building, Room 315, 500 Woodlane Street, Little Rock, Arkansas 72201. APA provides education adequacy consulting services. The BLR desires to hire APA to provide detailed and accurate information concerning the current efficacy of the biennial adequacy study and evaluation in the State of Arkansas, as well as recommendations regarding potential legislative reforms, as set forth in RFP No. BLR-190003 and APA’s response to the RFP (the “Services”), for the use and information of the House Committee on Education and the Senate Committee on Education (the “Committees”) and the members of the Arkansas General Assembly. APA and the BLR hereby agree as follows: 1. Services to be performed. The BLR hereby retains APA to perform the Services as set forth in RFP No. BLR- 190003 (the “RFP”) and APA’s Proposal in response to the RFP, as submitted on September 19, 2019, including APA’s Official Proposal Price Sheet, as supplemented via email on October 2, 2019 (the “Proposal”). Any and all assumptions stated by APA in the Proposal shall not be considered part of this Agreement. The RFP and the Proposal are attached hereto and incorporated into this agreement by reference as Attachment A. 2. Data Required by APA. In order to perform the Services, APA may require information that is held by various entities other than the BLR, including without limitation the Department of Education, local school districts, and various private entity stakeholders. The parties acknowledge that such data and information is in the possession of third parties; that APA must rely on these third parties to cooperate in providing this data and information; and that the data and information may be subject to laws restraining or preventing their release or dissemination. BLR authorizes APA to contact the various entities holding the information that APA requires in order to perform the Services under this Agreement. BLR Staff will be available to help to facilitate the contact with these entities upon request from APA. BLR acknowledges and agrees that while APA is relying on this data and information from such third parties in connection with its provision of the services under this Agreement, APA makes no representation with respect to and shall not be responsible for the accuracy or completeness of such data and information. 3. Deliverables. In connection with the services to be provided under the RFP, APA will prepare various documents, including without limitation reports and status updates to the Committees, completed research requests for the Committees, a final report of its work, assistance with recommendations and draft legislation of the Committees, and attendance at other legislative committee meetings, as authorized by the Committee chairs (the “Deliverables”) to be provided to the BLR for use by the Committees and the Arkansas General Assembly. BLR will own all Deliverables provided under this Agreement. APA will maintain full ownership of: (a) working papers of APA; (b) pre-existing APA materials or studies used in the provision of the Services and the Deliverables; (c) APA know-how and processes used in the provision of the Services and Deliverables as well as any and all intellectual property owned by APA that may be employed in 1 DRAFT: November 7, 2019 providing the Services and Deliverables. APA is providing the Services and Deliverables for the use and benefit of the Committees and the Arkansas General Assembly. The Services and Deliverables are not for a third party’s use, benefit or reliance, other than members of the General Assembly and as authorized by the Committee Chairs. Except as described in Section 10 of this Agreement, APA shall not discuss the Services or disclose the Deliverables until such time that the BLR provides APA notice that