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Recently reelected Gov. Tate Reeves and legislative leaders could not agree Wednesday on an official estimate of how much money will be available as they begin setting next year’s state budget.

Reeves said he supports a higher revenue estimate because that would make it easier for legislators to approve his proposal to eliminate state income taxes during the 2024 session.

“For those of us very interested in cutting taxes during this legislative session, arbitrarily lowering the number for no apparent reason hurts our ability to justify those tax cuts,” Reeves told the legislative leaders, including newly reelected Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and outgoing House Speaker Philip Gunn. “I am a very strong proponent of cutting taxes during this session. I am going to be regardless of what this number is.”

Normally, the fall meeting of the governor and the 14 members of the Legislative Budget Committee is a routine event and adopting an estimate is pro forma. But such was not the case Wednesday morning as it soon became apparent Reeves was blindsided by his Republican legislative colleagues. They wanted to adopt a revenue estimate $117.8 million less than recommended by the group of five state financial experts whose recommendations are normally rubber-stamped by the politicians.

Reeves said he believed he was attending the meeting to adopt the recommendation of the experts of projected revenue $7.64 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Instead, the committee members approved the lower number, the same estimate as for the current budget year.

“I guess I am kind of caught off guard. I did not anticipate there would be a change,” Reeves said.

Rep. Angela Cockerham, I-Magnolia, was the only member of the Budget Committee not to vote for the lower estimate.

Mississippi law mandates that the governor and members of the Legislative Budget Committee agree on a revenue estimate as a starting point in developing a state budget during the upcoming session. In 2002, then-Gov. Ronnie Musgrove and the committee did not agree on an estimate.

It is likely legislators will start work on a budget based on the estimate adopted by the budget committee members Wednesday. And importantly, state law allows committee members to meet at the end of the session to revise the estimate from the fall meeting they have with the governor.

In other words, the impact of Wednesday’s deadlock is most likely symbolic, highlighting the focus Reeves plans to place on eliminating the income tax during the 2024 session. In 2022, the Legislature passed a $525 million income tax cut phased in over four years. Reeves wants to fully eliminate the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of the state general fund revenue.

READ MORE: State revenue slows as phase-in of income tax cuts begins

House Pro Tem Jason White, R-West, who is expected to succeed Gunn as speaker, said he was supporting the lower revenue estimate, but that did not mean that the House would not be working to cut taxes during the 2024 session.

“I think that (cutting taxes) is the aim of most of the people around this table,” White said. “… I anticipate the House will be back with an income tax cut plan sometime in the very near future.”

Reeves told Hosemann he would support the lower estimate if he would say he anticipated the Senate passing an income tax cut during the upcoming session. Hosemann presides over the Senate.

READ MORE: Lawmakers pass largest budget in state history. No tax cuts or refunds, more for schools and roads

“We anticipate there will be tax relief this year,” Hosemann responded. “Now whether that is grocery tax (sales tax on food) income tax or other taxes, I can’t tell you that because … I don’t vote. They (senators) all vote. Whether I say it doesn’t make much difference.”

Hoseman said the Senate has passed tax cuts in the past and said there is no reason to think that will change going forward.

But he did say the lower estimate should be adopted because revenue for the past two months has been lower than the official estimate approved for the current budget year. If revenue falls too far below the estimate, the governor and-or Legislature would be forced to make cuts or dip into reserve funds to make mid-year adjustments.

State Economist Corey Miller, who is on the group of five state financial experts who provide a consensus estimate to the politicians, testified at the meeting that the anticipation is that the state economy will slow in 2024 and 2025, though, chances of a national recession are low.

The post Governor, legislative leaders deadlock on how much money the state has to spend next year appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Eight of 80 Mississippi hospitals that applied for money through the state’s new hospital grant program have finally received those funds after months of waiting. 

However, Mississippi State Health Department officials say the program’s kinks are still being ironed out. 

Gov. Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Hospital Sustainability Grant program, which allotted state hospitals a cumulative one-time payment of $103 million, into law in April. The legislation was part of a package of bills introduced by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann intended to help stem the state’s ongoing health care crisis. 

Nearly half of the state’s rural hospitals are at risk of closure, according to one report, and urban hospitals have been cutting services and struggling with recouping losses sustained during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

But the grant program has been riddled with trouble since its creation. 

For months, a legislative error prevented the money from being disbursed to struggling hospitals. During the bill’s creation, lawmakers chose to use federal pandemic relief money instead of state funds — it’s not clear if they knew the challenges that the source of funds could present. Federal money is highly regulated, which has complicated how the grant money can be disbursed. 

While the program was originally pitched as one-time grants, in actuality, hospitals must show financial loss due to the pandemic. One hospital administrator previously told Mississippi Today that made it more of a “reimbursement” program. 

State Health Officer Dr. Daniel Edney has given changing, and sometimes conflicting, statements about the grant program in public meetings and interviews, which agency officials have chalked up to the “fluid” nature of the situation. Edney declined to make himself available for this story, despite multiple interview requests over the course of five weeks. 

He told legislators at a tense Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting in late September that two-thirds of hospitals had applied for the program, but only half of those hospitals were actually eligible for the money. Lawmakers — Hosemann and Rep. Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, in particular — appeared frustrated at the health agency’s handling of the program. 

The state health department is being paid $700,000 to dole out the funds. 

Lamar at the meeting asked for a comprehensive list detailing hospitals’ eligibility for the grant money. Edney first said he had that list back at the office, but minutes later said he would get agency officials to draft a document explaining the program and send that information to committee members. 

Lamar nor Hosemann ever received that list or document, they said. A records request by Mississippi Today did not yield them, either. 

A few days after that meeting, Edney said in an interview with radio personality Paul Gallo that through a new workaround, he expected that 85% of hospitals would actually be eligible for the money. When Mississippi Today followed up with Edney to explain the sudden change, he offered no specifics.

“We’re all still working (on) the problem,” he said. 

Edney was adamant at the September Joint Legislative Budget Committee meeting that the agency needed legislative direction before they could disburse funds, and that he needed lawmakers to decide if they wanted to send out the money or wait until they fixed the program during the upcoming legislative session. 

Even though legislators say they haven’t received any new information, eight hospitals quietly received some money in the past few weeks.

As of Nov. 13, the only hospitals that have received money are Bolivar Medical Center, Greenwood Leflore Hospital, Baptist Memorial Hospital of Booneville, Diamond Grove Center and several Merit Health locations — River Oaks, Woman’s Hospital, Central and Biloxi. 

Each of those facilities got $1 million, except for Merit Health Woman’s Hospital and Diamond Grove, which received $500,000 each. 

Those amounts are generally less than what was initially allotted to those facilities at the time of the program’s passage, except for Greenwood, which received slightly more, and Diamond Grove, which was originally expected to receive nothing.

The Greenwood hospital has been facing steep financial difficulties for months. Interim CEO Gary Marchand said the money would be enough to cover hospital payroll for two weeks.

“Every little bit will help us continue to operate in our current situation,” he said. “Although this funding is just one piece of our short-term sustainability, we are appreciative of Dr. Edney, the Mississippi State Health Department and the Legislature.”

The news that money had been disbursed came as a surprise to Lamar when reached by phone on Tuesday. 

“Hopefully, this means we’re making some progress,” Lamar said. “That was certainly the intent — to get financial assistance to as many hospitals that will qualify as quickly as possible. It’s taken this long, but at the end of the day, if it gets where it’s supposed to go, that’s what we want to see happen.”

An official document provided by the agency showed that an additional 72 hospitals have applied for the money as of Nov. 14, which is about 70% of the state’s total hospitals. One of those facilities is Lamar’s local hospital, Highland Hills Medical Center in Senatobia. 

He said the facility got a “notice of approval” from the health department this week regarding the grant money but still needed to provide more information before being determined eligible. 

Now, instead of trying to estimate how many hospitals are generally eligible, health department officials would only say all hospitals can apply for the money — they just have to prove COVID losses. 

However, the entire $103 million will likely not be given out — that amount serves as a cap for the maximum amount of money that can be distributed. 

Hospitals can apply for the money until the end of the year, and if hospitals don’t get enough help, Hosemann said he’s committed to making changes to the program. 

“We have asked the Department of Health to provide us with information by early December detailing how much grant money has been distributed to date and how much is expected to be distributed by the beginning of session,” he said. “Once we have that information, we will start working on revisions to the program to ensure hospitals receive what we initially intended them to receive.”

The post The state’s troubled hospital grant program has finally awarded money to eight facilities. Many more are waiting. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Last Saturday night, Texas A&M slaughtered Mississippi State 51-10. On Sunday, Texas A&M announced it was firing head coach Jimbo Fisher, who the Aggies will have to pay $76 million not to coach. On Monday, Mississippi State fired Zach Arnett. The Clevelands discuss college football’s crazy season, the upcoming weekend games and the high school playoffs.

Stream all episodes here.

The post Podcast: “They are paying him how much not to coach?” appeared first on Mississippi Today.

State Rep. DeKeither Stamps, a week after Election Day, was declared winner on Tuesday by the Associated Press of the Central District Public Service Commission seat.

In unofficial results, with AP reporting that 97% of precincts are in, Democratic challenger Stamps won with 131,727 votes, or 50.4% to incumbent Republican PSC Commissioner Bailey’s 129,593 votes, or 49.6%.

The three-member Public Service Commission, which regulates public utilities and the rates they charge customers in Mississippi, will have three new people starting in January — two Republicans and one Democrat (Stamps).

The other two PSC seats were decided in the August primary, with Republican state Rep. Chris Brown winning the Northern District and Republican challenger Wayne Carr winning the Southern District seat.

Current Northern District Commissioner Brandon Presley ran unsuccessfully for governor this year, and Carr defeated current Southern District Commissioner Dane Maxwell in the Republican primary in August.

The post Stamps declared winner of Central District PSC seat appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Legislation passed by voters would have enacted runoff elections for the first time in Mississippi history if a candidate for any of the eight statewide offices had failed to garner a majority vote last week.

At least one key legislator wants to extend runoffs to all offices – both local and districtwide, such as elections for legislative seats or county positions. Senate Elections Chair Jeff Tate, R-Meridian, says he will file a bill in the upcoming 2024 session to create runoffs for all offices in Mississippi.

“I don’t want to see people elected with a small percentage of the vote,” said Tate. “We want to see people elected with support from a majority of the electorate. I do not know what the appetite of the (Elections) Committee is to consider that. But I will file that bill.”

Tate is in position to have input on the runoff issue as chair of the Senate Elections Committee. There is no guarantee Lt. Gov Delbert Hosemann will reappoint Tate as Elections Committee chair for the new four-year term starting in January, though it would be unusual for him not to be reappointed.

A runoff can occur in statewide offices between the top two vote-getters when no candidate obtains a majority of the vote, or 50% plus one. A runoff was enacted for the office of governor and the other seven statewide elections in 2020 when the Mississippi Constitution was changed to remove an antiquated provision that mandated the state House select a winner from the top two vote-getters for any statewide office where no candidate obtained a majority of the popular vote and won the most votes in a majority of the House districts.

During the recently completed 2023 November general election, there was a candidate receiving a majority vote in each of the eight statewide elections, thus eliminating the need for a runoff. Incumbent Republican Gov. Tate Reeves came the closest to not capturing the majority vote in his reelection bid against Democrat Brandon Presley. With votes still being counted, Reeves is winning win 52% of the vote and avoiding a runoff by about 25,110 votes.

The publicity surrounding the possibility of a runoff for the eight statewide posts confused many people into thinking there would be runoffs possible in all general elections. At one point after the Nov. 7 election, some counties in southwest Mississippi believed there would be runoffs in supervisors elections where no candidate garnered a majority vote.

But that was not the case, though Tate would like it to be.

The original 1890 Constitution mandated runoffs if no candidate obtained a majority vote in party primary elections, but not general elections. Instead, the constitution contained the language sending the eight statewide offices to the House to be decided.

There have been many instances in Mississippi history of candidates winning general elections with less than a majority vote. For instance, in 1987 Margaret “Wootsie” Tate won the state Senate District 47 post on the Gulf Coast with 42% of the vote in a three-way race.

Perhaps the most notable instance of a Mississippi politician winning an important seat without garnering a majority vote came in the 1978 race for the open U.S. Senate seat when Republican Thad Cochran won the three-way race with 45% of the vote. Cochran went on to win six more contests for the U.S. Senate – most by comfortable margins or with no opposition. There was not in 1978 and still is no requirement for a runoff in a general election for a federal office in Mississippi.

Under the state constitution, if a non-statewide general election is a tie, its outcome is to be determined by a game of chance. Mississippi has over the years seen some races determined by drawing of straws or some other game of chance.

Mississippi, Louisiana and Georgia are the only states with general election runoff provisions. And the dynamics are different in Louisiana since there are no party primaries. In Louisiana candidates from all parties run together and if a candidate does not obtain a majority vote the top two vote-getters advance to a runoff.

Some states are beginning to enact what is known as ranked-choice voting.  The system allows voters to select a top choice for an office and then a second choice, third choice and so on.

If a candidate wins a majority of the vote, the ranked-choice voting is not a factor. But if no candidate wins a majority, the losing candidate is eliminated and the votes of that candidate go to other candidates based on the rankings voters gave to the losing candidate.

The post Key legislator wants runoff provision for all Mississippi elections appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Two organizations have dropped their challenges over Hinds County running out of ballots on election day. 

Numerous Hinds County voting precincts ran out of ballots during Mississippi’s statewide election on Nov. 7, leaving some voters waiting in line for hours and causing others to give up and go home. 

As ballots ran short, two groups filed separate lawsuits to try to give people more time to vote on election night. One was filed by the nonpartisan Mississippi Votes. The other was filed by the Mississippi Democratic Party.

In the Democratic Party’s lawsuit, a chancery judge ordered all Hinds County polling places to remain open an extra hour, until 8 p.m. The state Republican Party filed an emergency appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court and asked the state’s highest court to overturn the order.

But the state Supreme Court did not rule on the GOP’s motion before the Democratic Party on Nov. 8 filed a motion to dismiss the case. 

READ MORE: Hinds County ballot shortages cause legal mess on Election Day

In the Mississippi Votes lawsuit, a special judge appointed by the state Supreme Court’s chief justice said specific precincts, could  remain open until every voter in line at 7 p.m. had a chance to cast a ballot. But this is what state law already requires at precincts.

Mississippi Votes appealed this ruling to the Mississippi Supreme Court. But the organization on Nov. 13 filed a motion to dismiss its appeal, which Presiding Justice Jim Kitchens granted that same day. 

The respective dismissals essentially end all pending lawsuits related to the Hinds County ballot shortages. However, individual candidates could bring their own election challenges over the results and petition courts for relief over the ballot issues. 

The Election Day issues in the state’s most populous county is highly unlikely to impact statewide elections such as the governor’s race where Republican Gov. Tate Reeves defeated Democratic challenger Brandon Presley. 

But it could make a difference in other elections such as the Central District Public Service Commission race, which remained neck-and-neck with the DeKeither Stamps, the Democratic nominee, having a slight lead over Brent Bailey, the Republican incumbent. 

State law requires counties certify election results by Friday, Nov. 17. 

The post Lawsuits dropped over Hinds County ballot shortages appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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Grace Shelby-Wells darts about her south Jackson boutique of fashion, jewelry and hand-crafted items multi-tasking with a smile, and well, with grace. 

She stops, looks around, lights a few candles to set a warm, welcoming mood, then begins arranging a display of colorful Fall hues. 

“For about 20 years, I was a marketing executive assistant for a wonderful company,” said Shelby-Wells. “But you know, I’ve always had an artist’s mentality.”

” And this,” she says, with a sweep of her hand, “has been my dream. I’ve always loved being creative and this dream here just kept being put on the back burner. It was in the background, but never far from my mind, always.”

“Truth be told, there was that part of me that honestly felt being an artist, creating and decorating wouldn’t get me paid. So, you do grown-up things. Get a good job, get married, have kids. And life does get in the way. And still…,” she trails into silence. 

But the smile comes back full force.

“So, fast forward. After many, many years, I decided at the top of this year to push forward no matter what. Fear, no matter. Anxiety, no matter, I would push forward and follow my dream. It empowered me. Like an elephant, strong; a determined, regal creature and that’s how I felt inside. It was time for me to move forward. Remember, an elephant never forgets. Thus, you know… The Elephant’s Trunk.”

Shelby-Wells’ boutique offers an array of fashion, jewelry and hand-crafted, decorative items. The business is located at 2570 N. Siwell Road in south Jackson.

The post The Elephant’s Trunk appeared first on Mississippi Today.