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Just five days before a key deadline, a Senate committee chairman would not say definitively that he will keep alive legislation to revive the state’s ballot initiative process.

“I do not have a definitive answer to that at this time,” Senate Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee Chair John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, said on Thursday.

March 1 is the deadline for bills approved by one chamber to pass out of committee in the other chamber. The House passed legislation earlier this year to restore the right for citizens to bypass the legislative process and place issues on the ballot.

READ MORE: House votes to restore a version of Mississippi ballot initiative process

If Polk does not pass House Concurrent Resolution 39 out of his committee by Tuesday, it will die unless revived by suspending the rules — a rare and difficult feat at the Capitol. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, referred the bill to Polk’s committee instead of Constitution Committee, where it normally would be sent. Constitution is chaired by Sen. Chris Johnson, R-Hattiesburg.

“We are still studying it. We have to do it right,” Polk said when asked on Feb. 24 about the legislation. “After we do all the studying, we will see where we are and decide what to do then.”

The issue is before the Legislature this session because the Mississippi Supreme Court struck down the initiative process last May when it ruled that the medical marijuana initiative approved by voters in November 2020 was invalid. The court ruled the process invalid because language in the Constitution mandated the required number of signatures be gathered equally from five congressional districts. The state has only four congressional districts, losing one as a result of the 2000 Census.

The proposal that passed the House would require a pro rata share of signatures be gathered from whatever number of congressional districts the state has.

The language that passed the House would allow voters to place issues on the ballot to change or amend general law. The initiative adopted in the early 1990s and that was struck down by the Supreme Court allowed voters to amend the state Constitution.

After the Supreme Court struck down the initiative, both House Speaker Philip Gunn and Hosemann expressed support for restoring the process. Both Gunn and Hosemann advocated for using the process to amend general law rather than the Constitution.

If the proposal dies Tuesday, it would take a two-thirds majority vote in both chambers to revive it. But it also takes a two-thirds vote to pass the resolution under normal circumstances restoring the initiative process because to do so means amending the Constitution. Amending the Constitution requires a two-thirds vote of both chambers and approval by voters.

PODCAST: Breaking down the proposal to reinstate a Mississippi ballot initiative

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Expanding Medicaid would provide a significantly bigger boost to the Mississippi economy than the far-reaching tax cut proposed by House Speaker Philip Gunn, according to studies from the non-partisan state economist’s office.

The studies reveal that expanding Medicaid would create more jobs and grow the state’s population and wealth more than would Gunn’s tax cut proposal that has passed the House and is pending in the Senate.

The Legislature is currently contemplating major tax legislation. The House plan, championed by Gunn, would eliminate the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of general fund revenue, cut the cost of car tags in half and reduce the tax on groceries from 7% to 4% while increasing the sales tax on other retail items from 7% to 8.5%.

The Senate has proposed a more modest plan that would cut the income tax and grocery tax and eliminate a $3 to $5 fee on the cost of car tags. Gov. Tate Reeves has proposed eliminating the income tax.

Neither the House nor Senate this legislative session is seriously considering Medicaid expansion, which would provide health coverage to at least 225,000 Mississippians. This projection mostly includes coverage for people who politicians often refer to as the “working poor” — Mississippians who are employed but cannot afford health insurance.

An analysis compiled in February by State Economist Corey Miller and Sondra Collins, a senior economist at the University Research Center, looks at Gunn’s House tax cut plan. This analysis has not yet been released publicly, but has been delivered to legislative leaders.

A September 2021 analysis was conducted by the same two economists to determine the impact of the state expanding Medicaid as is allowed by federal law and paid for in large part by federal funds.

Note: Story continues under the chart.

The economic effects of the two analyses are stark. In 2024, Medicaid expansion would increase the gross domestic product, which is the value of the state’s goods and services, by $779.4 million, compared to just $317.9 million for the House tax cut. The GDP growth for 2027, the fifth year of Medicaid expansion, would be $777 million, but just $162.8 million for the tax cut. The state’s current GDP is nearly $100 billion.

In terms of growing the state’s population, which has been cited by both Gunn and other leaders as one of the primary reasons for eliminating the income tax, expanding Medicaid would again provide significantly more bang for the buck. The tax cut would generate 3,748 people moving to Mississippi in 2024, according to the analysis, while expanding Medicaid would generate 7,757 new residents that same year. In 2027, the state’s population would swell by 11,505 by expanding Medicaid, while it would grow just 2,132 by enacting the House tax cut plan.

READ MORE: State economist refutes politicians’ claim that Mississippi cannot afford Medicaid expansion

Perhaps the most jaw dropping part of the analyses was the comparison of jobs and wages. In 2024, the study projected Medicaid expansion would create 11,526 jobs with an increase in personal income of $684.6 million. In the same year, the tax cut plan would generate just 4,457 new jobs with an increase in personal income of $213.5 million. In 2027, the Medicaid expansion would generate another 11,081 jobs with an additional $812.4 million in personal income, compared to 1,815 new jobs and an increase in personal income of $85.8 million for the tax cut plan.

“The additions to personal income (through Medicaid expansion) are larger each year from 2022 to 2027 and range from approximately $539 million to $812 million,” the study said. “The largest increase is in 2027 represents 0.7% of total personal income in Mississippi in 2019.”

But the analysis found that 60% of the jobs created by Medicaid expansion would be in health care and social assistance fields.

“An important caveat, however, is this estimate represents potential jobs,” the study pointed out. “Many healthcare jobs in Mississippi are currently unfilled.” To reach the projection, new workers would need to be found.

“An increase in Medicaid enrollees, in theory, could attract additional medical personnel and facilities to the state if these enrollees are viewed as a sustainable source of revenue,” the study surmised.

READ MORE: The Mississippi Republican income tax bet

The analysis of Medicaid expansion covers only five years, ending in 2027. But in each of those five years, Medicaid expansion provides more growth in terms of jobs, wealth and people than does cutting taxes.

The study of the tax plan goes until 2035, presumably covering the phase out period of the income tax.

Starting in 2032, the analysis projects that the tax cut plan would result in a loss of population, albeit a small loss, and a reduction in employment and personal income. By 2034 there also would be a reduction in the gross domestic product that by 2035 would be $11.6 million. There also would be reductions of 939 jobs, $166.7 million in personal income and 2,964 people in 2035.

The study cites as the reason for the losses the reduction in government services caused by less state revenue as a result of the full enactment of the tax cuts.

The Medicaid expansion study cites the reason for the significant economic boost to the large amount of federal money that would come to the state as a result of Medicaid expansion. Those federal funds would more than offset the cost to the state of expanding Medicaid while growing Mississippi’s economy, the study found. The state generally is responsible for 10% of the cost of Medicaid expansion.

Mississippi is one of 12 states to not have expanded Medicaid. Both Gunn and Reeves, the two most significant proponents of eliminating the income tax, have been vocal opponents of Medicaid expansion. Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has publicly voiced support for expanding Medicaid, though he does not use the term “Medicaid expansion.”

Both studies from the economist’s office rely on projections applied to a Tax-Pi model, which is a widely used process among economists and others in developing projections based on government revenue and spending.

READ MORE: With Senate set to pass its income tax cut, House hasn’t budged on its desire for elimination

Note: Mississippi Today reporter Alex Rozier created the chart above based on the state economist’s office analyses of Medicaid expansion and the Gunn tax cut proposal.

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The program distributing federal rental assistance dollars in Mississippi has significantly increased the amount of money it is paying out to landlords and tenants after a slow start last year. 

Mississippi received $186 million in rental assistance funds from a December 2020 COVID-19 stimulus bill. As of Jan. 31, the state has obligated $110.3 million to landlords and renters in need, according to the Mississippi Home Corporation.

The Rental Assistance for Mississippians Program (RAMP), managed by the Mississippi Home Corporation, exists to pay the rent and utilities of tenants who have been negatively impacted by COVID-19 and whose total household income is under 80% of their county’s median income. 

Last summer, Scott Spivey, director of the Home Corporation, described the influx of cash as like “drinking from a firehose.” But eight months later, fewer Mississippians are at risk of eviction or foreclosure, according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau, and advocates say the program has made some meaningful improvements. 

“When we first started working on this program, I was receiving multiple calls a day (seeking help with applications),” said Matthew Campbell, a field organizer with the NAACP. “I haven’t received nearly as many calls as I used to…which is of course a good thing. Hopefully, that signifies that people aren’t having as many problems, which I don’t believe they are.” 

Rivers Ormon, communications officer for the Mississippi Home Corporation, said this increase is the result of changes made several months ago having time to take effect. Those changes include: 

• Changing the application process to allow individuals in 50 counties to apply without income documentation
• Partnerships with housing counseling agencies and community leaders
• A statewide advertising campaign to inform renters and landlords about the program
• In-person rental assistance fairs to walk people through the application process
• Contracting with a third-party payment processor
• Making a paper application available for individuals with unreliable internet access

Multiple advocates noted the changes made to the paper application, which Campbell called a “good faith effort” to streamline the process and make it easier for people to apply. However, applicants who fill out the paper application have had a harder time getting information on the status of their application, according to Gwen Bouie-Haynes, director of the National Association of Social Workers, Mississippi Chapter. She said this is because applicants who utilized the paper application are reaching out to the call center for information and sometimes get put on hold for hours. 

Ormon said the average hold time over the last few months ranged from 30 minutes to an hour and a half, but that a change made last week got the wait time down to five minutes on Friday. The change redirects calls related to recertification, or applying for additional funds due to continued financial hardship, to a third-party contractor who is handling that portion of the application process.

Applicants are experiencing significant wait times between approval and payment, advocates say. 

Antwan Bragg, a landlord in Winston county, applied to RAMP in September 2021 and got approved in November, but is still waiting on his payment.

“It’s not (the tenants’) fault,” Bragg said. “All of my tenants are really good people and prior to the pandemic they were never late, took really good care of the place, but they all lost their jobs. They got on unemployment at first but then they cut their unemployment off and that’s when things got kinda dicey.” 

Bragg said he didn’t want to go through the hassle of evicting his tenants if there was a better option, but has now told them he’s giving RAMP to the end of March before he begins eviction proceedings. 

Diane Standaert, senior vice president at the Hope Policy Institute, said she hears similar stories with issues of timeliness of payment once applicants are approved. Of the applicants approved to receive RAMP funds, 66% were employed, and the majority are Black and female, according to the program.

”Thankfully, there are many times where once these situations are escalated, they are able to get resolved on a case by case basis,” Standaert said. “We’re thankful for that responsiveness, so it becomes, how do we increase that responsiveness across the board to reduce the amount of tension?” 

Ormon said the average processing time from approval to payment is two weeks if account information is correct, and that this can take longer if a check is going through the mail. She said if payments are taking months, there is another issue. 

While more money is going out to those who need it, the number of applicants who are denied has doubled from October 2021 to January 2022, with 14% of applications rejected, Standaert said.

Of the applicants approved to receive RAMP funds, 66% were employed, and the majority are Black and female, according to the program.

When discussing next steps to continue to improve the program, Bouie-Haynes suggested expanding the partnerships with housing counseling agencies to provide more direct assistance to applicants. 

“I look at it from this lens — social work professionals are out in the community on a regular basis and would likely have the skills to help process applications,” she said. “If you get more nonprofits involved, then that tends to spread the accessibility issue that I talked about, meaning that you would have a wider reach and more people would be getting the help they need.”

Ormon said training for new providers is ongoing. 

Campbell is working to expand housing assistance infrastructure beyond RAMP, using other stimulus funds to build affordable housing and create eviction diversion programs. 

”The most important thing now is not only that this money is continued to be spent in a positive way, making sure that households receive this rental assistance aid, but I also think that there is another opportunity to take this work around affordable housing even further with these (federal relief) funds,” he said. “So that’s what I’m looking forward to. It’s a once in a lifetime investment to really make some positive, constructive changes in people’s lives, and it takes a concerted effort from pretty much every unit of government to meet those needs.”

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The Senate is expected to pass its state income and grocery tax cut plan on Wednesday’s deadline to do so, sending it to an unreceptive House that wants to go further and eliminate the income tax altogether.

“This is a measured approach, and we are doing something fiscally responsible, and we can come back in four years and see where we are and go from there,” said Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, author of the Senate plan. “I think we’ve taken into account inflation, all those other concerns — I think there’s going to be (an economic) downturn, a dip … Our plan is easy to understand, it provides instant relief for taxpayers with a rebate and cut in the grocery tax, and it’s responsible.”

As lawmakers enter the homestretch of the 2022 legislative session, the Republican House and Senate leadership are at loggerheads over tax cuts. The two appear so far apart on this major issue that many political observers fear it could hinder other legislation as lawmakers are scheduled to get down to brass tacks on setting a state budget, spending billions in federal pandemic relief and agreeing on other issues to wrap the session around the end of March.

House Speaker Philip Gunn, who has vigorously championed the total phase-out of the state income tax (along with an increase in sales tax) for two years, has referred to the Senate plan as a “token” tax cut that would provide little relief to taxpayers. With state coffers overflowing, Gunn said now is the time to overhaul the state’s tax structure and eliminate the individual income tax.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has decried the House plan as foolhardy, eliminating a third of the state’s revenue and upending state tax structure at a time of great economic uncertainty and volatility. He notes Republicans have for years disparaged using “one-time” money for recurring expenses. He said the influx of money into the state budget is from Congress dumping trillions of federal dollars into the economy and “if ever there was one-time money in Mississippi, this is it.”

READ MORE: The Mississippi Republican income tax bet

The Senate’s tax cut plan would cost about $317 million a year, plus a one-time cost of $130 million. It would:

• Phase out the 4% state income tax bracket over four years. This would mean people would pay no state income tax on their first $26,600 of income, a savings of about $50 a year.
• Reduce the state grocery tax from 7% to 5%, starting in July.
• Provide up to a 5%, one-time income tax rebate in 2022 for those who paid taxes. The rebates would range from $100 to $1,000.
• Eliminate the state fee on car tags going into the general fund, which would be about $5 off the cost of a new tag, $3.75 for renewals.

The House’s $1.5 billion tax cut plan would:

• Eliminate taxes on the first $40,000 of income for an individual and $80,000 for a couple in 2023, saving individuals about $1,300 and couples about $2,600 a year.
• Phase out the income tax over the next decade or so, pending budget growth “triggers” are met.
• Increase the sales tax on most retail items from 7% to 8.5%, and cut the cost of car tags in half.
• Reduce the grocery tax eventually from 7% to 4%.

Senate Bill 3164, the Tax Relief Act of 2022, passed the Senate Finance Committee on a voice vote with a smattering of “Nos” from both Democrats — who argue the state has too many unmet needs to cut taxes — and more conservative Republicans, who think it doesn’t go far enough.

READ MORE: Inside the income tax cut battle between House and Senate leaders

“This is just a sad situation,” said Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, during committee debate. “The only reason we are here is because there is a fixation at the other (House) end of this building with eliminating the income tax. That’s not being pushed by anyone from Mississippi, but from a bunch of out-of-state organizations that believe we don’t need any taxation at all … I don’t hear the hue and cry from my constituents for it.

“… Did you all campaign on eliminating the income tax?” Bryan said. “The out-of-state people don’t care what happens with this. It’s a box to check off on their ideology … This is not a partisan issue. Maintaining highways is a function of government, not partisanship. Are we going to abolish the gas tax and not spend any money at all on roads? We have for years disregarded the law on how we fund our public schools. We’ve got the money now, why are we not doing that?

“This proposal is not as misguided as the House proposal, but I think it’s still a bad idea,” Bryan said.

Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville, said: “I’m going to support this bill, but I don’t think it goes far enough.

“The House at least has put the proper framework before the body, income tax elimination,” McDaniel said. “That’s the long term play, that’s the proper play … We have roads. The question is are we going to have a functioning economy, which we haven’t had for a long time … It’s not our money. We should not forget that. It’s not roads vs. anarchy … We’re hearing that even minor tax cuts would be cataclysmic, and that just doesn’t make sense.”

Sen. Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, said he spent the last weekend back home at ball fields and the talk among parents was inflation. He said one he talked with owns a local ice cream shop.

“He said they’re looking at inflation and having to increase prices 20% to deal with it,” England said. “He was concerned about any increase in sales tax (like the House plan), and worried that would result in customers not coming in. We are not raising any sales tax or any other tax with this plan.”

McDaniel noted how far apart the House and Senate proposals remain.

“I sense both of these bills will die, and the people of Mississippi will continue to suffer under this tax structure,” McDaniel said.

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Mississippi hospitals have about 3,000 total nursing vacancies — equivalent to one-fifth of the state’s entire nursing workforce — according to a recent survey from the Mississippi Hospital Association.

Health care workers, especially nurses, have left the state during the pandemic to better paying jobs with temp companies or hospitals outside of Mississippi. As a result of the shortage and the omicron variant surge, hospitals in the state have been forced to cut capacities by closing beds.

Singing River Health System’s three Gulf Coast hospitals currently have more than 200 nursing vacancies, 50 of which are at Ocean Springs Hospital. The challenges the hospital system faces were highlighted in The New York Times’ Feb. 18 episode of The Daily.

In this photo gallery, Mississippi Today went inside the walls of Ocean Springs Hospital to follow a day in the life of the health care workers and patients there.

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Tougaloo College announced a $10 million donation to fund scholarships for low-income students from Netflix CEO Reed Hastings and his wife Patty Quillin as part of the pair’s efforts to financially support historically Black colleges. 

The donation will be shared equally with Brown University, Carmen Walters, Tougaloo’s president, said at a press conference on Monday. 

Tougaloo will use its portion to bolster its $22 million endowment and set up a need-based scholarship for low-income students. The remaining $5 million will create a scholarship fund at Brown University in Rhode Island to support students who participate in the long-running academic partnership between the two colleges. 

Hastings’ donation is the largest that Brown-Tougaloo Partnership has received in its 58-year history. The partnership began in 1964 after state lawmakers attempted to revoke Tougaloo’s charter during the civil rights movement.

The $5 million scholarship fund will support at least 10 undergraduate students and four graduate students will benefit from the scholarship fund each year, Walters said. 

The donation is “transformational” for Tougaloo, said Sandra Hodge, the vice president for institutional advancement, and will “significantly (bolster) the college’s ability to provide scholarship support to current students and also allow the college to recruit more talented students who might not otherwise be able to attend.” 

Hastings said he was compelled to donate to Tougaloo because the college’s history and religious mission is similar to his alma mater, Bowdoin College. He wanted to support a historically Black college, he said, because he realized over the last 10 years “that the economic gaps in wealth, in assets, in endowments are pretty profound and totally unfair.” 

Hastings said that his gift is a “small part of closing that gap.” 

During the press conference, Walters talked about the important role that Tougaloo plays in Mississippi. The college is an “economic engine,” she said, that has historically educated about 40% of Black physicians and dentists in the state. 

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Gov. Tate Reeves on Monday announced two executive orders aimed at helping children of military families, and helping protect and expand the state’s military installations and supporting industries.

“As long as I am governor, Mississippi will do everything in our power to support our military members and their families,” Reeves said at a press conference, flanked by state military leaders.

One order Reeves signed creates the Military Star Schools Program, to help military family school children who have to frequently change schools when their parents receive new postings and who deal with other issues such as parents being away for deployments. Reeves said there are about 7,300 school-aged children of active duty military families in Mississippi.

Col. Cynthia Smith, commander of the 186th Air Refueling Wing at Key Field Air National Guard Base in Meridian, said that statistics show children in military families switch school six to nine times K-12. She said her family knows firsthand how difficult that can be for children and spouses of military members.

The new program, administered by the state Department of Education, would require schools to apply for the Military Star designation. The schools would have to designate a staff member as an ambassador to military families and maintain a web page on the school’s website with resources for military families. They would have to have peer-to-peer programs to help students coming in to the school and would have to offer training for staff on issues military children and their families face.

State Superintendent Carey Wright said many Mississippi schools already provide support to military families and she expects “our schools and districts will jump at the chance to join this program.”

Reeves also signed an order creating the Mississippi Defense Communities Development Council — overhauling a council that has worked for years to prevent military base closures in Mississippi during federal cutbacks and realignments.

Reeves appointed Tom Williams, president of the Meridian Airport Authority, to chair the new council. Williams said the new organization aims to be “proactive, rather than reactive” in expanding, improving and protecting the state’s military installations, which Williams said account for 6.5% of the state’s economy.

The MDCDC will be overseen by the Governor’s Office of Military Affairs in the Mississippi Development Authority, and each of the state’s 12 active duty, Guard or shipbuilding installations will be represented.

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