AR
Arkansas Senate Bill SB491

Arkansas 2025 Regular Session

Arkansas Senate Bill SB491 Compare Versions

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11 Stricken language would be deleted from and underlined language would be added to present law.
2-Act 956 of the Regular Session
3-Act 956 of the Regular Session
4-*ANS402* 04-15-2025 09:15:44 ANS402
5-
6-State of Arkansas As Engrossed: H4/15/25 1
2+*ANS402* 03/17/2025 4:30:59 PM ANS402
3+State of Arkansas 1
74 95th General Assembly A Bill 2
85 Regular Session, 2025 SENATE BILL 491 3
96 4
107 By: Senator K. Hammer 5
118 By: Representative Achor 6
129 7
1310 For An Act To Be Entitled 8
1411 AN ACT TO REQUIRE A VENDOR THAT CONTRACTS WITH THE 9
15-EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DIVISION TO SUBMIT DATA FOR 10
16-VERIFICATION BY AN INDEPENDENT AUDIT; TO IMPOSE A 11
17-CIVIL PENALTY ON A VENDOR THAT PROVIDES INACCURATE 12
18-DATA; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER 13
19-PURPOSES. 14
20- 15
12+OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT FOR SERVICES FOR THE 10
13+EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DIVISION TO SUBMIT DATA FOR 11
14+VERIFICATION BY AN INDEPENDENT AUDITOR; TO IMPOSE A 12
15+CIVIL PENALTY ON A VENDOR THAT PROVIDES INACCURATE 13
16+DATA; TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY; AND FOR OTHER 14
17+PURPOSES. 15
2118 16
22-Subtitle 17
23-TO REQUIRE A VENDOR THAT CONTRACTS WITH 18
24-THE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS DIVISION TO SUBMIT 19
25-DATA FOR VERIFICATION BY AN INDEPENDENT 20
26-AUDIT; TO IMPOSE A CIVIL PENALTY ON A 21
27-VENDOR THAT PROVIDES INACCURATE DATA; 22
28-AND TO DECLARE AN EMERGENCY. 23
29- 24
30-BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 25
31- 26
32- SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 21 -5-404(10), concerning the powers, 27
33-functions, and duties of the State Board of Finance concerning contracts with 28
34-qualified vendors, is amended to read as follows: 29
35- (10)(A) To direct the office to contract with qualified vendors, 30
36-as defined by the board, offering the plan options under the program as 31
37-prescribed by the board without regard to § 19 -11-228 or other statutes 32
38-requiring competitive bidding. 33
39- (B) Each contract shall : 34
40- (i) be Be for a term of at least one (1) year but 35
41-may be made automatically renewable from term to term in the absence of 36 As Engrossed: H4/15/25 SB491
19+ 17
20+Subtitle 18
21+TO REQUIRE A VENDOR THAT CONTRACTS WITH 19
22+THE OFFICE OF STATE PROCUREMENT FOR 20
23+SERVICES FOR THE EMPLOYEE BENEFITS 21
24+DIVISION TO SUBMIT DATA FOR VERIFICATION 22
25+BY AN INDEPENDENT AUDITOR; TO DECLARE AN 23
26+EMERGENCY. 24
27+ 25
28+BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ARKANSAS: 26
29+ 27
30+ SECTION 1. Arkansas Code § 21 -5-404(10), concerning the powers, 28
31+functions, and duties of the State Board of Finance concerning contracts with 29
32+qualified vendors, is amended to read as follows: 30
33+ (10)(A) To direct the office to contract with qualified vendors, 31
34+as defined by the board, offering the plan options under the program as 32
35+prescribed by the board without regard to § 19 -11-228 or other statutes 33
36+requiring competitive bidding. 34
37+ (B) Each contract shall : 35
38+ (i) be Be for a term of at least one (1) year but 36 SB491
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41+may be made automatically renewable from term to term in the absence of 1
42+notice of termination by either party; and 2
43+ (ii) Require a qualified vendor to agree to 3
44+verification of the vendor's data under § 21-5-425; and 4
45+ 5
46+ SECTION 2. Arkansas Code Title 21, Chapter 5, Subchapter 4, is amended 6
47+to add an additional section to read as follows: 7
48+ 21-5-425. Verification of data of vendor — Independent audit process — 8
49+Civil penalty — Rules. 9
50+ (a) A vendor that contracts with the Office of State Procurement under 10
51+this subchapter and a fiscal impact is required shall agree to verify the 11
52+accuracy of the data the vendor provides to the state. 12
53+ (b) The office shall not contract with a vendor for services for the 13
54+Employee Benefits Division that does not agree to submit to an independent 14
55+audit process to verify the accuracy of the vendor's data. 15
56+ (c) The Director of the Employee Benefits Division: 16
57+ (1) Shall develop an independent audit process to verify the 17
58+accuracy of the data a vendor provides to the state; and 18
59+ (2) May request a vendor submit to an independent audit process. 19
60+ (d) A vendor that is found through the independent audit process under 20
61+subdivision (c)(2) of this section to have provided inaccurate data to the 21
62+state is subject to: 22
63+ (1) A civil penalty of: 23
64+ (A) Five hundred dollars ($500) for a first violation; and 24
65+ (B) One thousand dollars ($1,000) for each subsequent 25
66+violation; and 26
67+ (2) Loss of licensure or authorization to operate in this state. 27
68+ (e) The director shall promulgate rules to implement this section. 28
69+ 29
70+ SECTION 3. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the 30
71+General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that using accurate data is 31
72+indispensable when considering the fiscal impact of legislation for this 32
73+state; that vendors may not provide accurate data and the state needs an 33
74+independent audit process to enable the state to verify the accuracy of 34
75+vendor data; and that this act is immediately necessary because it is vital 35
76+to know the fiscal impact of the passage of legislation to protect the 36 SB491
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45-
46-notice of termination by either party; and 1
47- (ii) Require a qualified vendor to agree to 2
48-verification of the vendor's data under § 21 -5-425; and 3
49- 4
50- SECTION 2. Arkansas Code Title 21, Chapter 5, Subchapter 4, is amended 5
51-to add an additional section to read as follows: 6
52- 21-5-425. Verification of data of vendor — Independent audit process — 7
53-Civil penalty — Rules. 8
54- (a) A vendor that contracts with the Employee Benefits Division under 9
55-this subchapter and a fiscal impact is required shall agree to verify the 10
56-accuracy of the data the vendor provides to the state. 11
57- (b) The division shall not contract with a vendor for services for the 12
58-division that does not agree to submit to an independent audit process to 13
59-verify the accuracy of the vendor's data. 14
60- (c) The Director of the Employee Benefits Division: 15
61- (1) Shall develop an independent audit process to verify the 16
62-accuracy of the data a vendor provides to the state; and 17
63- (2) May request a vendor submit to an independent audit process. 18
64- (d) A vendor that is found through the independent audit process under 19
65-subdivision (c)(2) of this section to have provided inaccurate data to the 20
66-state is subject to: 21
67- (1) A civil penalty of: 22
68- (A) Five hundred dollars ($500) for a first violation; and 23
69- (B) One thousand dollars ($1,000) for each subsequent 24
70-violation; and 25
71- (2) Loss of licensure or authorization to operate in this state. 26
72- (e) The director shall promulgate rules to implement this section. 27
73- 28
74- SECTION 3. EMERGENCY CLAUSE. It is found and determined by the 29
75-General Assembly of the State of Arkansas that using accurate data is 30
76-indispensable when considering the fiscal impact of legislation for this 31
77-state; that vendors may not provide accurate data and the state needs an 32
78-independent audit process to enable the state to verify the accuracy of 33
79-vendor data; and that this act is immediately necessary because it is vital 34
80-to know the fiscal impact of the passage of legislation to protect the 35
81-residents of this state. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and 36 As Engrossed: H4/15/25 SB491
82-
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84-
85-
86-this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public 1
87-peace, health, and safety shall become effective on: 2
88- (1) The date of its approval by the Governor; 3
89- (2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor, 4
90-the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the 5
91-bill; or 6
92- (3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is 7
93-overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto. 8
94- 9
95-/s/K. Hammer 10
78+ 3 03/17/2025 4:30:59 PM ANS402
79+residents of this state. Therefore, an emergency is declared to exist, and 1
80+this act being immediately necessary for the preservation of the public 2
81+peace, health, and safety shall become effective on: 3
82+ (1) The date of its approval by the Governor; 4
83+ (2) If the bill is neither approved nor vetoed by the Governor, 5
84+the expiration of the period of time during which the Governor may veto the 6
85+bill; or 7
86+ (3) If the bill is vetoed by the Governor and the veto is 8
87+overridden, the date the last house overrides the veto. 9
88+ 10
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98-APPROVED: 4/21/25 13
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