Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann announced the creation of two Senate study committees – one new group and the other task force reinstituted from 2022.
Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, announced a Labor Force Participation Study Group. That committee, chaired by second term Sen. Daniel Sparks, R-Belmont, will look at the issue of Mississippi continuing to have a lower percentage of people 16 and older in the workforce than any state in the nation.
Hosemann and others, including state Economist Corey Miller, have repeatedly said that the low workforce participation rate is a primary reason Mississippi lags the rest of the nation economically.
Hosemann also announced he is re-starting the Study Group on Women, Children, and Families. It again will be chaired by second-term Sen. Nicole Boyd, R-Oxford.
The group was formed by the lieutenant governor in part due to the 2022 ruling overturning Roe V. Wade, which guaranteed a national right to abortions. Mississippi had laws in place when Roe was overturned banning most abortions in Mississippi.
It was estimated that with the abortion ban there would be an additional 5,000 births annually in Mississippi. That increase, based on an analysis of early data, has not occurred. But the decline in births in Mississippi since 2007 has slowed and more unwanted pregnancies have been reported, according to research by the Institute of Labor Economics. Experts surmised that women were traveling out of state for abortions or were receiving abortion-inducing medication via the mail.
Researchers stressed it is too soon after the overturning of Roe to reach definitive conclusions.
“It is the Legislature’s job to examine how our state laws and appropriations help or hinder Mississippi’s opportunities for positive growth and prosperity,” Hosemann said in announcing the task forces. “Both of these topics have tremendous potential to move the needle in terms of economic development, tourism, health outcomes, educational attainment, and other major factors which determine our future trajectory as a state and in our communities.”
As of April, the state’s labor force participation rate was 53.75% compared to the national average of 62.75%, Hosemann said.
After the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe, the Senate study group discussed multiple issues that later became law with the stated aim of helping women and children.
Those include:
- Expanding Medicaid coverage from 60 days to a year for women after giving birth
- Providing presumptive Medicaid eligibility for a pregnant woman receiving health care
- Increasing tax credits for people adopting children and for pregnancy crisis centers
- Extending the time a parent can surrender a new born to emergency providers from seven days to 45 days
- Making other changes to adoption and foster care laws
Noteworthy, the state has not expanded Medicaid to provide health care coverage to the working poor and presumably help low income families.
People wanting to make recommendations can do so at LaborStudyGroup@senate.ms.gov or at WCPStudyGroup@senate.ms.gov.
Both study groups will hold public hearings later this year.
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