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The disconnect is stunning.

Gov. Tate Reeves, Lt Gov. Delbert Hosemann and Speaker Philip Gunn often disagree, as politicians are apt to, but one item where they are on the same page is that “Mississippi is in the best fiscal condition in the state’s history.” They repeat the mantra often, and they all take credit for it.

Indeed, if the state had a quarter for each time the governor and other political leaders said the state was in the best fiscal condition ever, then the fiscal condition would be, well, even better.

Mississippians are clearly not getting the message. According to a recent Siena College poll commissioned by Mississippi Today, a mere 4% of Mississippians described the state’s fiscal condition as “great” and only 22% as “good.” When asked to “describe the fiscal condition of the state of Mississippi right now,” 37% of poll respondents answered “fair,” 32% said “poor,” and 4% said they did not know.

The poll results are a bit perplexing considering Mississippi’s fiscal condition is, indeed, most likely the best ever. The state’s various surplus accounts total $3.9 billion or, incredibly, about half the amount of the annual state support budget appropriated by the Legislature.

“We are in a great financial position,” Gunn said recently. “…We cannot neglect or ignore the fact that conservative spending leads to this type of financial situation. We have rejected attempts to grow government for the previous many years and this has been the result of that.”

There are many reasons for the surplus, most financial experts agree, ranging from an unprecedented infusion of federal spending into the state primarily to respond to the COVID-19 pandemic, inflation generating more tax revenue, and wage growth generating additional tax revenue. In addition, the state is still benefitting from past lawsuit settlements with tobacco companies and with BP after the 2010 oil spill. Both lawsuit settlements continue to bring millions of dollars into the state.

Perhaps the disconnect between how Mississippians feel about the state’s fiscal condition and the state’s actual fiscal condition can be attributed to the notion that most people do not view the primary role of government as to build cash reserves. Normally, the role of government and politicians is to provide needed services for their constituents. Sure, a government should have adequate reserves, often called rainy day funds, but the primary role of a government is to provide services, not to hoard money.

If people see high poverty rates, poor health care outcomes, components of education lacking and poor infrastructure ranging from roads and bridges to water and sewer, they might surmise the state’s fiscal condition must not be that great. Because if it is the best in history, then politicians could fix all the problems.

But instead they hear from top state officials like Health Officer Daniel Edney, who recently sounded the alarm about 38 hospitals and about half of the state’s rural hospitals being “in danger of immediate closure or closure in the near term.” Some of those hospitals are larger regional care centers, such as Greenwood Leflore Hospital. Edney said nearly all of 111 hospitals across the state are facing financial difficulties with many areas — particularly in the Delta and some parts of southwest Mississippi — becoming “health care deserts.”

In the area of infrastructure, the federal government has had to step up to commit more than $600 million to ensure safe and reliable drinking water for Jackson after city and state officials were unable to fix the problem.

Notably, the poll found that 42% of African Americans described the state’s fiscal condition as “poor” compared to 26% of white Mississippians. The same poll found that 42% said the state is on the right track compared to 44% on the wrong track, while among African Americans 55% said the state is on the wrong track and 32% on the right track.

Could it be that more Black Mississippians see so many needs going unmet in their communities and reasonably surmise the state’s fiscal condition must not be that great?Because if the fiscal condition were great, we would have better streets, health care and drinkable water. Right?

Maybe there is not a disconnect after all.

The post Best fiscal condition in state history? Mississippians clearly don’t see it that way appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A committee made up of members appointed by state leaders voted unanimously to recommend that the Legislature extend postpartum Medicaid coverage for new mothers from 60 days to 12 months.

The Mississippi Medical Care Advisory Committee, which is tasked by state law to advise the Division of Medicaid about “health and medical care services,” cast the vote in October. The committee is made up of 11 members appointed by the governor, lieutenant governor and speaker of the House.

Dr. David Reeves, chairman of the committee and a physician on the Gulf Coast, penned a letter to Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann on Jan. 11. He said the Mississippi Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics and the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Division of Neonatal Medicine made a presentation to the committee.

“After consideration and review, with a unanimous vote, the Committee recommends, through legislative action, extending postpartum Medicaid coverage to 12 months. We feel this extension of coverage will be beneficial to both our mothers and babies and supports the pledge we have made to Mississippi’s women and children with the recent Supreme Court decision upholding Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health,” Dr. Reeves wrote.

Mississippi is one of only two states in the nation that has not extended health care coverage for new mothers on Medicaid to 12 months or expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Currently, moms on Medicaid lose their health care coverage 60 days after giving birth.

House Speaker Philip Gunn last year blocked the legislation from going to a vote in the House after the bipartisan bill passed overwhelmingly in the Senate. Lawmakers who supported the legislation and health advocates both noted the state’s high rate of maternal and infant mortality as one reason the extension is needed.

Health experts have told legislators that although extension would cost the state about $7 million a year to keep mothers and newborns healthier, the alternative is spending tens of millions more as a result of preterm births and poor health outcomes for mothers and babies.

Gunn has previously said he is waiting on the Division of Medicaid to take a position on extending coverage. Wil Ervin, deputy administrator for health policy for Mississippi Medicaid, told lawmakers in December his agency is not making a recommendation for or against extending postpartum coverage.

A spokesperson for the Division of Medicaid did not immediately respond to questions from Mississippi Today on Friday afternoon. A spokesperson for Gunn also did not respond.

Several bills to extend postpartum coverage have been introduced in the Senate, including one from Medicaid Chairman Sen. Kevin Blackwell.

Rep. Missy McGee, a Republican from Hattiesburg, introduced a bill in the House to extend the health care coverage of new mothers on Medicaid to 12 months. Its fate remains unknown, however, as Gunn has recently reiterated his opposition to postpartum coverage.

McGee said she supports extending the coverage based on what she’s heard from health experts – including pediatricians, neonatologists and emergency medicine doctors from her district – and based on her experiences as a woman and a mother.

“As a woman and as a mother, I couldn’t let this issue pass without advocating it and really trying to push it forward,” McGee said.

She said the return on investment is another reason she supports extension.

Dr. Anita Henderson, a pediatrician and the president of the Mississippi chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics, told members of the Senate Study Group on Women, Children and Families in December that the hospital cost for a health baby born full term is around $5,000 to $6,000. For extremely premature babies, that cost can reach $600,000 and even top $1 million –  costs frequently incurred by state Medicaid, which covers about 65% of births in the state.

“If we can invest early in getting babies here healthy then we improve our long-term outcomes, and there are fewer negative outcomes at a cost savings of who knows what to the state. If the average preemie (costs the hospital an average of) $600,000 (from birth to six months), it doesn’t take many of those (being prevented) for the program to pay for itself,” she said.

Mississippi’s pregnancy-related maternal mortality ratio is 33.2 deaths per 100,000 live births, nearly double the national average of 17.3 deaths. Mississippi has the highest infant mortality rate, preterm birth rate and low birthweight rate in the U.S. One in seven babies born here are preterm.

Medical Care Advisory Committee Letter 1.20.23 by Kate Royals on Scribd

The post Committee tasked with advising Medicaid votes to recommend extending health care coverage for new moms appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Perpetrators in the Mississippi welfare scandal lawsuit are cooperating with federal prosecutors. 

High-profile officials confirm that a federal investigation into the misspending continues. Top defendants in the civil case have implored state prosecutors to pursue their boss, former Gov. Phil Bryant, who they say was responsible for much of the scandal.

But federal prosecutors are keeping quiet about their ongoing probe into the $77 million in welfare funds squandered while Bryant was governor.

And they’re demanding others keep quiet, too, according to a recent court filing.

“John Davis knows of the extent of personal involvement of former Governor Bryant and Governor (Tate) Reeves and the massive waste of taxpayer money,” attorney Jim Waide wrote in a Jan. 12 motion to dismiss the state’s massive parallel criminal case. “John Davis refuses to answer discovery because the FBI has directed him to keep silent.”

Meanwhile, attorneys for people accused of perpetuating the scheme — and even someone who committed fraud in an unrelated case — say they’ve taken all the blame for actions Bryant took, too.

“The landscape is very uneven out here, and if you’re not powerful and you don’t have powerful friends, then you are not protected,” said Lisa Ross, a defense attorney in the unrelated fraud case. “All the people with power get the benefit of the doubt.”

Davis, the former director of the Mississippi Department of Human Services, pleaded guilty in September to a combined 20 state and federal counts of fraud, conspiracy, or theft and has agreed to aid the prosecution in the ongoing investigation, delaying his sentencing. He is a key witness.

“John Davis is critical because the ladder continues to move up,” Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens said after Davis pleaded guilty.

Up the ladder from Davis is Bryant, the former governor who appointed him, and potentially Reeves, the current governor who served as lieutenant governor at the time of the known misspending.

Bryant’s spokesperson, Denton Gibbes, told Mississippi Today on Friday that the former governor has not been interviewed or even contacted by federal authorities.

Most of the stolen funds came from the nation’s welfare program called Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or TANF. Bryant — who has been tied to the now infamous illegal spending on former NFL quarterback Brett Favre’s pet projects but has not faced any civil or criminal charges — oversaw the welfare agency during the heist.

“As policy director of MDHS, former Governor Bryant adopted policies of spending only a minuscule portion of TANF funds for payments to needy families, of foregoing competitive bidding, and of distributing massive amounts of TANF funds through private conduits,” Waide wrote in the recent filing. “These negligent policies foreseeably caused all of the misexpenditures alleged in the First Amended Complaint.”

Waide also pointed to communication in which Davis described the illegal transfer of $1.3 million in welfare funds to a celebrity fitness camp by former athlete Paul Lacoste as “the Lt. Gov’s fitness issue,” referring to then-Lt. Gov. Reeves. 

Records show that Reeves and Favre discussed the University of Southern Mississippi volleyball stadium, which was built with $5 million in welfare funds, in early 2020. Those texts, as well as Reeves’ decision to fire the attorney who originally attempted to investigate that purchase, have also raised questions about his involvement. Reeves’ texts prior to becoming governor are not considered public records because the Legislature exempted itself from Mississippi’s Public Records Act, so any communication he had with Favre during the scandal, when he was lieutenant governor, has not been released.

Waide is representing Austin Smith, Davis’ nephew and one of dozens of defendants in the state’s civil litigation that attempts to claw back misspent or ill-gotten public funds. The state has accused Smith of taking more than $426,000 in primarily TANF funds to teach coding skills to needy students and failing to conduct the work — an allegation Smith denies.

Owens and State Auditor Shad White, who initially investigated the case, have recently confirmed to Mississippi Today that the federal investigation is ongoing.

“I would speak more generally on this point and say anytime you see sentencing withheld, the reason you withhold sentencing is to get information from those people,” White said. “So, those folks are going to be talking to prosecutors and are talking to prosecutors.”

Under Bryant, the welfare department essentially privatized the TANF program by pushing tens of millions of the grant funds to two nonprofits, including Mississippi Community Education Center founded by Nancy New, a politically connected educator and friend of Deborah Bryant, the governor’s wife. Virtually all of the misspending occurred under the umbrella of this nonprofit-run program, called Families First for Mississippi.

Gov. Bryant was so involved in Families First that he described the privatized program as “us” in a never-before-published text message to New, one of the primary criminal and civil defendants in the case.

In the fall of 2018, shortly after the launch of a new judicial initiative called Family First aimed at preventing the need for Child Protection Services to separate families, there was much confusion between the two entities because of the similar name, shared logo and overlapping members.

Bryant texted New on Nov. 1, 2018, a photo that PR specialist Becky Russell, whose daughter worked on the initiative, took with Attorney General Jim Hood, the Democratic candidate for governor who ran against Gov. Tate Reeves. Reeves was lieutenant governor at the time and gearing up to run for governor in 2019.

“Jim Hood is a strong supporter of the Mississippi’s Family First Initiative-Believes in the approach that Mississippi must first fix families in order to fix foster care,” Russell wrote in a tweet containing the photo. 

“Not good,” Bryant wrote to New with a screenshot of the tweet. “The LtGov will not like this at all.”

“Omg! That makes me sick,” New responded. “The Family First Initiative is causing so much confusion. Just not good.”

The messages provide some insight into the conflict between various officials working on child welfare in the state, exclusively detailed in a July article by Mississippi Today, and the political nature of the programs.

At the time, Mississippi Supreme Court Justice Dawn Beam, who worked with Deborah Bryant to launch the Family First initiative months earlier, was distancing herself from Families First for Mississippi because “it was obvious they were not what they had held themselves out to be,” Beam recently told Mississippi Today.

Beam said welfare officials promised to build a database, which they estimated to cost $5 million – the same amount that went to the volleyball stadium – that could connect needy families to resources in their communities and collect data that could be used to better meet needs in the future. But by the time of Bryant and New’s text exchange, Beam said she knew the computer system wasn’t going to materialize. “They were lying,” Beam said.

The two factions hid their infighting behind closed doors while advertising to the public that they were making generational change for families in Mississippi.

Bryant asked New if the entity represented in Russell’s tweet was the privatized welfare program known as Families First for Mississippi, before correcting himself. “Oh that’s Dawn Beam..” he said, referring to the separate judicial initiative.

New explained to Bryant that Beam initially wanted the judicial initiative and Families First to “complement each other,” but then decided New’s program would not be as involved.

“Thanks. Just glad that not us..” Bryant texted, referring to Families First.

New also expressed her frustrations to Bryant when the investigation into her nonprofit’s spending began in 2019. New was squabbling with another nonprofit called Family Resource Center of North Mississippi, which ran Families First for Mississippi in the northern part of the state. The nonprofits, which were affiliated with opposite political parties, had to compete for funding from the welfare department, especially after learning their grants would be cut in early 2019. At one point, one of the defendants in the welfare case alleges, Bryant threatened to cut funding to Family Resource Center because of its director’s support for Hood.

“Sorry to have bothered you. I just wanted to share that I have no choice but to stand up for myself,” New texted Bryant in October of 2019, the same month auditor’s investigators raided her nonprofit offices. “I have tried my best to stay about all this mess that north ms and others started over a year ago. I was not only put in the middle but now I am being dragged through the mud. I have run MDHS grants for 24 years to end up being treated like crap by them now. It’s completely wrong.”

“Go get em..” Bryant responded.

Texts in the months following reveal that Bryant spoke with New about her legal troubles, which she described as “my whole life’s work go(ing) down the drain.” 

“Will b glad to facilitate a meeting,” Bryant responded.

“Waiting to hear back from Lucien,” New said, likely referring to Mississippi GOP Chair and consultant Lucien Smith.

Smith did not return calls or texts from Mississippi Today.

New and her son Jess New visited Bryant on Friday, Dec. 13, 2019, after which, she said “All of this ‘crazy making’ is just way too much and hoping will end soon. Thank you for listening. I always value your input and guidance.”

“I am always here when you need me to listen. Keep the faith…” he texted.

New would be arrested seven weeks later.

The newly revealed texts were recently entered into discovery, joining hundreds of thousands of pages of communication existing in the criminal and civil cases. Key communication that has not been released include text messages between Davis and Bryant prior to February of 2019.

New also pleaded guilty and has agreed to cooperate with the prosecution. Her attorney in the civil case, Gerry Bufkin, has similarly blasted the state for not including Bryant as a defendant in the case. Bufkin and Waide are both fighting with Bryant over subpoenas for the former governor’s communication, which would include some of the messages between Bryant and Davis.

Text messages uncovered by Mississippi Today in April of 2022, which covered February to June of 2019, reveal how Bryant steered Davis to award welfare grants to his favored vendors.

The texts show Bryant was in talks about two of Favre’s pet projects – a pharmaceutical startup and a new volleyball stadium at University of Southern Mississippi – that illegally received a total of more than $8 million in welfare funds. Even Favre is facing civil charges for his role in the scandal while Bryant is not. Favre told Bryant when his pharmaceutical venture, Prevacus, began receiving funds from the state and the governor even agreed by text to accept stock in the company after leaving office.

In mid-2019, Bryant relayed a small tip of suspected fraud brought forward by an employee of Mississippi Department of Human Services to Auditor White, whom Bryant initially appointed to the office. White was also Bryant’s former campaign manager.

Bryant was discussing a future working relationship with Prevacus and setting up meetings just one day before White arrested the nonprofit officials who funneled the money to the company.

In a recent unsuccessful appeal attempt, defense attorney Ross criticized White for failing to equitably pursue fraud suspects, namely former Gov. Bryant and current Gov. Reeves. She echoes the sentiments from some Mississippians who believe White has unfairly targeted lower-level offenses, leading to record-making demands for repayment, for political gain – an assertion White rejects. 

Ross represented Toni Johnson, a Democratic Hinds County Election Commissioner who recently pleaded guilty to embezzlement and was sentenced to 20 years for using private grant funds to purchase two personal televisions.

“White bragged in the email that his office ‘has pursued aggressive consequences for embezzlers regardless of whether they were Republicans or Democrats.’ Text messages published by Mississippi Today belie White’s claim that he pursues public corruption ‘regardless of whether they were Republicans or Democrats,’” Ross wrote in a Jan. 6 petition for interlocutory appeal. “The text messages show former governor Phil Bryant and Governor Tate Reeves directed public employees to unlawfully divert $94 million of Temporary Assistance to Needy Families funds to Brett Favre and other friends of Phil Bryant and Governor Reeves. At the behest of White, Hinds County District Attorney Jody Owens has doggedly pursued Johnson about the misuse of private funding but has buried his head in the sand when it comes to the alleged involvement of Bryant and Governor Reeves and others in a $94 million heist of public funds.”

(The state auditor’s 2020 report questioned $94 million worth of welfare agency spending while forensic auditors found $77 million in unallowable purchases. The state has relied on the forensic audit to determine which funds to claw back.)

Favre also alleged in his motion to dismiss the civil case that the state has neglected the roles of Bryant, and even White, in the welfare scandal.

White recently explained to Mississippi Today that his office conducts investigations, but it does not decide who to prosecute.

“We have a system with multiple players who look at the facts of a situation, and then the system itself comes to a conclusion about who is held accountable, not just the state auditor,” White said. “And some people believe that out there that I am investigator, judge, jury, executioner. Democracy is not set up that way. It’s not supposed to be set up that way.”

Asked if he thinks Bryant’s role in welfare spending warrants further investigation, White said, “I think everybody top to bottom is going to be thoroughly investigated, period, all the way down to the janitor at DHS.”

Owens called Ross’ claims of selective prosecution “baseless.”

“An allegation of other wrong doings doesn’t exonerate her client and the prosecution of the News and Davis or evidence that we prosecute all cases,” Owens said in a text to Mississippi Today.

Overseeing prosecution on the federal side is the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the southern district of Mississippi, which is without a permanent U.S. attorney. President Joe Biden selected Todd Gee, current deputy chief of the Public Integrity Section of the U.S. Department of Justice, for the position, but he failed to secure the blessing of Mississippi Sens. Roger Wicker and Cindy Hyde-Smith. The new Congress is now waiting for Biden to re-nominate the position.

The criminal case is running parallel to the civil case Mississippi Department of Human Services has filed against 46 people or organizations.

Several defendants have filed motions to dismiss or requests to stay the case while the criminal investigation continues. In his recent motion to dismiss, Waide argues that Davis has evidence crucial to Smith’s defense, but that he won’t share it due to the ongoing investigation. Davis’ plea deal keeps him out of Mississippi’s notoriously harsh state prisons.

MDHS filed its initial complaint in May and an amended complaint, adding several new defendants, in December.

Other recent filings in the civil suit include memorandums in support of motions to dismiss from retired WWE wrestler Ted DiBiase Sr. and Lacoste, the former football player and fitness coach. DiBiase argued that his ministry, Heart of David, conducted the TANF activities it was hired to perform and that the contract was no secret to the agency. Lacoste argues that he didn’t know the money he received came from TANF and therefore can’t be held liable. Attorney Garrig Shields, a former deputy director at MDHS who was added to the suit in December, filed a 94-page answer denying the allegations against him. Another defendant Nick Coughlin, one of the welfare contractors and former reality TV contestant who also worked for the Attorney General’s Office, also filed a lengthy answer denying the state’s claims.

Hinds County Circuit Court Judge Faye Peterson has not scheduled hearings to address several pending motions in the case, including Bryant’s motions to quash subpoenas against him.

The post Attorneys drop hints that feds are eyeing former Gov. Phil Bryant in welfare investigation appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Friday marks the last day of work for 143 Maximus call center employees in Hattiesburg who were told last week they no longer have jobs. 

Maximus said overstaffing led to the decision to cut some of the workforce handling calls for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. 

Employees have been organizing at the Hattiesburg location, regularly holding protests over the last 10 months, calling for better working conditions, pay and health care. Workers hope to eventually form a union. 

Workers planned to gather again outside the Hattiesburg office Friday afternoon in protest of the layoffs, which they say arrived with barely 10 days notice last week.

“Maximus cannot possibly claim that it treats its employees with respect and sensitivity when, as a billion-dollar corporation, it’s failing to provide enough notice of their termination or sufficient severance pay for workers to take care of their families,” Tiandra Robinson, an organizer at Communications Workers of America, said in a statement. “Shame on Maximus for pulling the rug out from under hundreds of people who are already struggling to make ends meet.”

Maximus said in a statement that “low attrition rates” resulted in “surplus staffing.” After the layoffs, the Hattiesburg office will employ 787 workers who handle a range of phone calls for the federal government including Medicare and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Workers last held a strike in November, during the start of open enrollment for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act, when calls at the office surged. That protest attracted about 200 workers outside the Hattiesburg office demanding better working conditions and better policies to handle caller abuse. 

Robinson said this latest move by Maximus shows why it’s important for workers to unionize so they can be better protected from “arbitrary layoffs.”  

“Whenever we make staffing decisions, we make it a priority to treat all of our people with respect and sensitivity,” Maximus said in a statement. “That is why we are coordinating with other Maximus programs where remote positions may be available for impacted employees. We also will ensure that we consider these employees for other hiring needs if additional staff is required in the future.”

The laid off workers were not given any severance, according to Communications Workers of America.

Organizers say another protest is also planned for Friday afternoon at the Maximus call center in Bogalusa, La., which is also cutting jobs. 

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More Mississippians would prefer not to pay the 7% sales tax on groceries than not to pay the state income tax, according to a recent poll from Mississippi Today/Siena College.

The poll, conducted Jan. 3-8, found 68% of respondents favor suspending the grocery tax, while 24% oppose ending the grocery tax.

“The cost of food is high enough already,” Hinds County resident and poll respondent Lucinda Robinson told Mississippi Today. “We need some relief.”

Robinson said she does not believe it is right to tax necessities like food and milk.

“Eggs are so expensive that I just eat the chicken,” she said.

Mississippi’s 7% tax on most retail items is one of the nation’s highest. In addition, most states either have a lower sales tax on groceries than on other items, or they just exempt groceries from being taxed altogether. Mississippi levies the full 7% on groceries.

Editor’s note: Poll methodology and crosstabs can be found at the bottom of this story. Click here to read more about our partnership with Siena College Research Institute.

Alternatively, a 55% majority of respondents support eliminating the state personal income tax, while 31% oppose eliminating it.

A reduction in the state income tax already is underway based on previously passed legislative action. And Gov. Tate Reeves, Speaker Philip Gunn and others have advocated for the complete elimination in 2023 of the income tax, which currently generates about one-third of the state general fund revenue.

“We need economic development. The way to attract people to move here is to eliminate the income tax,” said DeSoto County resident Brad Dickey, who was a poll participant. “It is as great way to do it.”

Dickey, who is an engineer working in Memphis, said young people move to other states that do not have an income tax such as Tennessee, instead of locating in Mississippi.

When asked about the state’s high grocery tax, Dickey said, “We have to have some money to provide services. I think there is more support to eliminate the income tax than to eliminate the grocery tax.

“I understand the grocery tax is regressive,” he said. “If they could get rid of both, that would be fine. But we have to have some money from somewhere.”

The poll did not ask respondents to consider how the elimination of a state revenue stream, whether from the income tax or from the grocery tax, would impact the services provided by the Mississippi government.

But some poll respondents told Mississippi Today they do not believe they are getting many services for their taxes anyway.

Poll respondent Ester Jones of Jones County said the state should eliminate both.

“If they are not going to support the schools with the money, they should just do away with it and allow the parents to support their children,” she said.

Jones said she believes it is unfair to force poor people to pay a tax on their groceries. She said the state of Texas does not have a sales tax on groceries and also has no income tax.

By a significant margin, Black Mississippians would rather not pay the grocery tax than the income tax. Their support for the suspension of the grocery tax is 60% to 29%, with 11% not answering or having no opinion, while their support for the elimination of the income tax is 44% in favor to 38% opposed.

White Mississippians also were more supportive of suspending the grocery tax — 74% to 19%, compared to 62% to 27% for the income tax.

Republicans support suspending the grocery tax 71% to 22%, while Democrats do 65% to 28%, and independents do 67% to 21%.

On the income tax, Democrats favor elimination by a narrow 42% to 41% margin. Two-thirds (66%) of Republicans support elimination of the income tax, while 23% of Republican oppose it. Independents support income tax elimination 56% to 30%.

“In my situation I pay a tremendous amount of property taxes. I pay a lot of incomes taxes, too,” said Sam Rosenthal of Indianola who described himself as a landlord. “I don’t want to be taxed out of business. I am overwhelmed with taxes.

“I feel like every time I turn around I am paying some type of tax whether property, income or some type of assessment,” Rosenthal said. “I would love to see the elimination of that.”

He said he also does not like the grocery tax, but added, “If had to choose I would rather pay the grocery tax. I am a realist. I know the state has to have money.”

Another poll question attempted to gauge support for a one-time rebate to taxpayers as many other states have done. That idea garnered 51% support and was opposed by 41%. Democrats supported the one-time rebate 73% to 21%, while Republicans and independents opposed them by narrower margins.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and many in the Senate leadership have advocated to use some of the current surplus the state has to provide taxpayers a one-time payment.

The Mississippi Today/Siena College Research Institute poll of 821 registered voters was conducted Jan. 8-12 and has an overall margin of error of +/- 4.6 percentage points. Siena has an ‘A’ rating in FiveThirtyEight’s analysis of pollsters.

Click here for complete methodology and crosstabs relevant to this story.

The post Poll: Grocery tax cut more popular than income tax cut appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The House of Representatives, after lengthy debate and a partisan vote on Thursday, passed a bill that would ban gender affirming surgery and drugs for Mississippians 18 and under.

The 78-28 vote, mostly along party lines, came after numerous Democratic lawmakers asked why the bill was needed, and why the House wasn’t instead addressing a health care crisis with officials warning 38 hospitals are on the verge of closure.

House Bill 1125, the “Regulate Experimental Adolescent Procedures Act,” is similar to measures passed or debated in other states and was authored by Rep. Gene Newman, a Republican from Pearl.

It would prohibit Mississippi doctors from performing gender affirming surgery or prescribing drugs such as hormone replacement therapy to those under 18. It would allow for the doctors’ licenses to be revoked and create a “civil claim of action” for them to be sued with a 30-year statute of limitations. It would prohibit insurers or Medicaid from reimbursing families for such procedures and would strip doctors who provide them of the state’s generous tort claims protections.

The bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Under questioning, Rep. Nick Bain, a Republican from Corinth who made the floor pitch for the bill, said he knows of no cases of Mississippi youth undergoing gender affirming surgery, but said he has heard some are taking hormone treatments. Bain said the University of Mississippi Medical Center had 47 “visits” regarding gender affirming care between 2017 and 2022, but he is unsure if any of those patients were 18 and under.

“To me it’s about taking a wait-and-see approach to make sure that these kids are what they think they are,” Bain said. “… The child still has the right, the ability to live as any gender they want, then when they turn 18 they can make that decision.”

Other than Bain, Republican supporters of the bill were mostly quiet during the floor debate that lasted more than an hour.

Rep. Chris Bell, a Democrat from Jackson, asked Bain, “Wouldn’t we be better off dealing with bills to prevent hospitals closing across our state?” noting the measure was one of the first general bills to be taken up by the House this session.

Bain said such legislation dealing with hospitals would be forthcoming and he believes the Thursday bill “is a compelling public interest for us to be involved in with children.”

Rep. Omeria Scott, a Democrat from Laurel, offered an amendment to the bill to expand Mississippi Medicaid coverage. Her amendment was ruled improper and no vote was taken.

“Instead of dealing with 47 people out of 3 million, this will do something for 166,000 people who need health care,” Scott said of her amendment.

Rep. Zakiya Summers, a Democrat from Jackson, questioned whether supporters of the bill were “taking away parents’ rights.”

“When these types of decisions are made, there’s usually a team, right, not just the child,” Summers said. “There’s a psychiatrist, a psychologist, physicians. Are we saying we want to take away parents’ rights and say we won’t allow them to make decisions for their children based on what medical professionals tell them?”

Bain said, “We take away parents’ rights all the time,” including with custody decisions and other matters to protect children’s well-being.

After the bill passed, the American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi issued a statement saying the backers of the bill are “forcing policy onto vulnerable young people.”

“Denying healthcare to transgender youth can be life-threatening,” the ACLU statement said. “Research shows transgender youth are twice as likely than their cisgender peers to experience depression, isolation, and attempt suicide. Additionally, transgender youth whose families support their gender identity have a decrease in suicidal thoughts and significant increases in self-esteem.”

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More than three years after a historic downpour within the Mississippi River basin led to financial hardships for the Gulf Coast’s fisheries, a federal judge ruled Wednesday that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers must seek consultation over the effects of opening the Bonnet Carré Spillway.

The spillway, which was built in the 1930s, is designed to redirect potential floodwaters from the Mississippi River away from New Orleans and into Lake Ponchartrain. But when the Corps opens the spillway, the river’s water eventually reaches the Mississippi Sound, and can impact the salinity in a way that kills off species such as oysters, shrimp and crabs.

After historic amounts of rainfall in 2018 and 2019, the Corps opened the spillway an unprecedented three times in two years. Mississippi Today published a series in 2020 on the impacts of the spillway openings, where Gulf Coast fishermen questioned the future of their careers after dealing with one disaster after another.

In his ruling on Wednesday, Judge Louis Guirola wrote that the Corps violated the Magnuson-Stevens Act by not seeking consultation from the National Marine Fisheries Service — a part of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, or NOAA — when opening the spillway. The law requires federal agencies to seek consultation if they take an action that impacts essential fish habitat.

Guirola ordered the Corps to consult with the National Marine Fisheries Service regarding the impact of the spillway openings by Sept. 30 of this year.

Guirola dismissed a related lawsuit, filed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, in September, 2021. In that case, later argued by Secretary of State Michael Watson, Mississippi officials argued that the Corps should complete an updated environmental impact study on the effects of the spillway openings, and also that the Corps should open the Morganza Spillway, which would instead send water into southern Louisiana.

The judge dismissed the case with prejudice over a lack of jurisdiction and failure to state a claim.

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Certified teacher vacancies in Mississippi have decreased since last year, with 2,593 reported for the 2022-23 school year according to the Mississippi Department of Education. 

The state did not start tracking its critical teacher shortage until 2021, when the department found just over 3,000 public school teaching positions were either completely vacant or held by teachers who were not properly certified. 

Courtney Van Cleve, MDE director of educator talent acquisition and effectiveness, said the survey data provided “one of the clearest pictures of Mississippi’s educator workforce that we have had to date.” 

Elementary school teachers make up a third of all vacancies, at 32%, but high school teachers were close behind with 31%. In high school, the greatest vacancies are in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) classes.

“It’s encouraging that we have fewer vacancies, but we still have too many vacancies in districts throughout our state,” said Kelly Riley, director of Mississippi Professional Educators.

Riley specifically called the 335 special education teacher vacancies “alarming” because it is a subject area she said has been on the critical shortage list for too long, since at least the 2019-20 school year.

Administrator vacancies have also decreased from last year, but vacancies for support staff, such as custodians or administrative assistants, have not. Particularly, there have been increases in vacancies for teacher assistants and bus drivers. 

Van Cleve said districts linked this increase to an uptick in responsibilities to address pandemic-related learning loss without an increase in wages. 

“Things like one-on-one tutorials with a teacher assistant or extended day bus routes or Saturday bus routes are leaving them in a place feeling … fairly overwhelmed,” Van Cleve said.

Van Cleve said that while there are still vacancies to be addressed, the department has seen success by creating some flexibility in teacher licensure. This has allowed a greater number of teachers to enter the field with similar outcomes to other teachers.  

Toren Ballard, K-12 policy director for Mississippi First, lauded the department for tracking this information but said he would have liked to see it presented at the district level. 

“Overall it’s about 500 less vacancies than last year, which looks like a good statistic, but I think it doesn’t cover the whole story,” said Ballard. 

In the 2021-22 school year, Mississippi had 32,199 teachers working in classrooms and the average salary was $47.902, according to MDE.

Even after the pay raise offered by the Legislature last year, Mississippi First found in a new report the number of teachers who left their district at the end of the 2021-22 school year still increased, with 23.7% of all teachers not returning. Teachers in poorly rated districts were also more likely to leave, with 32% of teachers in F-rated districts leaving at the end of last year compared to 16% in A-rated districts. 

READ MORE: ‘It was an easy choice for me’: 17% of teachers left their district in the 2020-21 school year

The report also found that half of Mississippi teachers cannot afford at least one of the following: adequate food, transportation, housing, or medical care. Financial insecurity, and student debt specifically, was most closely linked with a risk of leaving the classroom. Teachers who work in low-rated school districts and teachers of color both reported significantly higher student debt burdens. 

To address these impacts, Mississippi First recommends an annual stipend for teaching in critical shortage areas and an expansion of eligibility for the existing Winter-Reed Teacher Loan Repayment Program. Currently, the program is only available to traditional route teachers in their first year of teaching and has a cap on the number of applicants that can be assisted each year, which does not allow the financial aid office to use the total appropriation for the program each year. The organization recommends expanding eligibility regardless of years of experience or path to the classroom, as well as removing the cap. 

“Our work in improving the educator pipeline is not finished,” Ballard said. “Some of the disparities and financial issues that are underpinning the teacher shortage in Mississippi have been around for so long that it’s going to take more than one year of a pay raise to really start making some progress in addressing this issue.” 

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A new Mississippi Today/Siena College poll showed 57% of voters would support “someone else” over current Gov. Tate Reeves in a November election, while just 33% would support Reeves.

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