Black caucus leery of 2 higher-ed bills Senate panel OKs optometry measure
The Arkansas Legislative Black Caucus on Monday considered — and offered pointed skepticism of — two pieces of legislation that would recalculate funding for state colleges and universities, with greater weight placed on “outcomes-based funding.”
In 2017, the Department of Higher Education refocused its funding model so that schools were rewarded more for their number of graduates, rather than just the number of students who enroll. Sen. Breanne Davis, R-Russellville, has filed legislation this year that would accelerate the process of pinning funding for institutions to their “productivity.”
Members of the caucus were shown data on Monday that showed universities in south Arkansas, including the historically black University of Arkansas at Pine Bluff, would likely lose funding under Davis’ plan.
“Hear me out, and let me continue the conversation before you draw a line in the sand,” Davis asked the caucus during a discussion of her bills, Senate Bills 508 and 509.
The caucus, which has no voting authority, did not take any action on Davis’ bills.
Sen. Linda Chesterfield, D-Little Rock, was one of several members to express concern that the proposed legislation would harm low-income and minority students, calling the proposed change “disturbing.”
A bill allowing optometrists to perform a broader range of eye surgeries cleared a Senate committee after a nearly threehour hearing on Monday evening.
House Bill 1251 would allow optometrists to administer injections around the eye, remove bumps and lesions from the eyelids, and perform certain types of laser surgery.
Supporters say the measure would allow optometrists to use more of their training and provide easier access to eye care for patients in rural areas of the state.
Opponents, including groups representing ophthalmologists and other physicians, say optometrists don’t have the training required to safely perform the procedures.
Among those who testified to the Senate Committee on Public Health, Welfare and Labor against the bill on Monday was Charlotte Alison, who said her vision was damaged by a botched laser surgery performed by optometrists in Louisiana.
The Senate sponsor of the bill, Sen. David Wallace, R-Leachville, who is vice chairman of the committee, said there haven’t been any reported malpractice cases involving the procedures in the four states — Alaska, Kentucky, Louisiana ad Oklahoma — where optometrists are allowed to perform them. In 14 other states, optometrists are allowed to perform some but not all of the procedures that would be allowed under HB1251, he said.
“I can’t imagine that with that many states doing these procedures, and for the number of years they’ve been taking place, that if there was that many bad outcomes, that we would not be hearing about it,” said Rep John Eubanks, R-Paris, the bill’s lead sponsor.
The House passed the bill in a 70-19 vote on March 6. On Monday, the eight-member Senate committee advanced it in a 5-2 vote, with one member absent. It next goes to the full Senate.