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I was recently struggling to describe the sheer insanity of a Mississippi legislative session, so I called a prominent lawmaker who served in 36 of them to ask his opinion.

“I’ll tell it to you like this,” said Steve Holland, former state representative from Plantersville. “In 1983, I was way out in the country in Lee County campaigning for my first term in the House. I drove up to this old guy’s house. He had his overalls on, riding around on his Ford tractor plowing his garden.

“I told him I was running for the Legislature and that I’d like his vote. He stopped and looked at me and said, ‘Why on earth would you want to do that? You’re crazy. The Legislature is the only institution I know of that’s run by the inmates themselves.’ And by God, after doing it for 36 years, I’d say that was the damndest true statement I ever heard.”

It appears this year’s legislative session will be among the crazier in recent memory. Billions in surplus revenue await appropriation. Redistricting looms for congressional and legislative seats. A medical marijuana program and ballot initiative process are likely to be debated.

Then there are some optional items that appear to have strong political appetite like eliminating the personal income tax, raising teacher pay substantially and expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. And because, of course, it’s Mississippi, expect nasty fights over red meat issues like critical race theory.

To devote special attention to this potentially historic legislative session, we’re launching a weekly newsletter and a special section.

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Our free newsletter, which you can sign up for just above this sentence, will be much more than just a recap of each week’s coverage. We’ll break some news here, and we’ll give you the inside track on what to expect at the Capitol each week.

As a subscriber of the newsletter, you’ll have an exclusive first look at our weekly analyses about what’s happening behind closed doors in the building. You’ll get them a few hours earlier than anyone else.

The first newsletter of the session will publish Jan. 4, the first day of the 2022 legislative session. I wrote about the current relationship between the state’s top leaders who will be responsible for turning policy ideas into law: Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.

We have also created a 2022 Legislative Guide, which we will launch on Jan. 4, as well. There, you’ll find the basics like how a bill becomes law, key legislative deadlines and how to find and contact your lawmakers. It will also house our comprehensive coverage of the 2022 legislative session.

Thanks, as always, for reading. We really appreciate your support!

The post Your guide to Mississippi’s 2022 legislative session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The 2022 legislative session, which begins at noon on Tuesday, is shaping up as one of the most eventful in recent memory.

Legislators — 52 senators and 122 House members — will face a litany of issues, any one of which could consume much of the time and energy of a regular session.

If this year is like others, many issues that no one is talking about will become controversial and will dominate a large portion of the session. That nearly always happens — such as removing the state flag in 2020 or stripping some of the city of Jackson’s authority over the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in 2016.

With just 90 days in the scheduled regular session, lawmakers will have a chore on their hands. In no particular order, here is a list of some of the top issues facing legislators:

Reinstating the ballot initiative process

In May 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court in a landmark and controversial ruling said that the state’s initiative process was invalid. The court made the ruling based on the fact the constitutional language setting up the initiative process said signatures to place issues on the ballot must be gathered equally from five U.S. House districts. The state has had only four districts since the 2000 U.S. Census, making it impossible for initiative sponsors to carry out that mandate.

It will take agreement from a two-thirds majority from each chamber to place an issue on the ballot to allow citizens to reinstate the process by which they can garner signatures to place issues on the ballot. Most likely, there will be an effort to change the old process so that citizens gather signatures to place issues on the ballot to change or amend state law instead of the Constitution.

Medical marijuana

When the Supreme Court struck down the initiative process, it did so in a ruling on a lawsuit challenging the validity of a November 2020 vote on an initiative that legalized medical marijuana. Results from that election, of course, were also thrown out.

All of the state’s top political leaders — Speaker Philip Gunn, Lt. Gov, Delbert Hosemann and Gov. Tate Reeves — said they want to legalize medical marijuana during the 2022 session. But Reeves has said he will veto legislation in its current form because it allows too large of a quantity of marijuana to be disbursed to individuals.

Redistricting

The Legislature is slated to take up the redrawing of the four U.S. House seats and 174 state legislative seats during the 2022 session to adhere to population shifts found by the 2020 U.S. Census.

The drawing of the state legislative districts, in particular, has the potential to be contentious because it impacts each lawmaker’s ability to be reelected.

Teacher pay

Mississippi teachers remain on or near the bottom in the region and nationally in terms of pay. Legislative leaders and the governor have indicated that a significant raise will be passed in the 2022 session on the heels of the $1,000 raise approved last session.

In his 2019 gubernatorial campaign, Reeves committed to a multi-year, $4,300 raise for teachers. But in his first budget proposal after being elected, he said nary a word about a teacher pay raise.

But coming into this session, the governor has proposed a $3,300 raise phased in during three years. The Senate leadership, in particular, has said not only the salary, but other items, such as the cost of health insurance for teachers, should be considered this session as part of any teacher pay consideration.

Cutting the personal income tax

Both the speaker and governor have proposed phasing out the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue. Because of the state’s strong tax collections, Reeves has proposed a five-year phase out. Last year Gunn proposed increasing the sales tax on various retail items to help offset the elimination of the income tax and to offset his proposal to also cut the 7% sales tax on groceries in half.

What, if anything happens on the income tax, could have a direct impact on another issue: teacher pay.

A $4.2 billion surplus of funds

Unprecedented revenue growth, fueled at least in part by circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted in a staggering state surplus in funds. That surplus includes $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds that are designed to help deal with the pandemic.

But legislators have considerable discretion in how those funds are spent. Hosemann has said he wants to ensure the impact for the state in the spending of the unprecedented funds “is generational, not for one or two years, but for one or two generations.”

Legislators also must be aware that the recent rapid growth in the tax collections will likely slow dramatically as circumstances surrounding the pandemic change.

Critical race theory

Both Gunn and Reeves have voiced their support of legislation banning the teaching of critical race theory, which the state Department of Education has said repeatedly is not being taught in Mississippi schools.

The issue could be one of the most contentious taken up during the session. Many fear that any ban of critical race theory, which is in general terms a collegiate level academic field, would prevent the teaching of the impact of race and racism on the state and country and also conflict with an existing state law calling for the teaching of civil rights and its history in Mississippi.

Medicaid expansion

The issue might not come up, but it will be on the backburner for the session. Mississippi is one of only 12 state not to expand Medicaid and receive literally billions in federal funds to provide health coverage for between 150,000 and 300,000 Mississippians who primarily work, but in jobs that do not provide health insurance.

The federal government normally pays 90% of the costs of Medicaid expansion, but because of congressional action in response to the coronavirus, the feds will now pay even more to states that expand.

Gunn and Reeves have voiced strong opposition to expansion. Hosemann has indicated he would be willing to study the issue and had indicated Senate committees would before the 2022 session began, but they did not.

The post The top issues lawmakers could address in 2022 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today’s politics team breaks down the seven biggest issues lawmakers will address in the 2022 session. Reports Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender join Adam Ganucheau to discuss what to expect during the session and to analyze key relationships under the Capitol dome.

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side here.

The post Podcast: Everything you need to know about the 2022 legislative session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

An early fight between the legislative leadership and Gov. Tate Reeves could be brewing if he vetoes a medical marijuana bill as he said he would do if it does not meet his specifications.

Many anticipate passing a medical marijuana bill will be one of the first priorities of the Legislature in the 2022 session. Most legislators, including Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, had expressed support for the governor calling a special session to take up medical marijuana after the state Supreme Court stunningly struck down the medical marijuana program approved by voters in November 2020.

But the governor, who has the sole authority to call a special session, refused in large part because he said the proposal worked out by House and Senate leaders allowed for too large a quantity of marijuana to be dispensed to individuals.

Reeves blocked the proposal for 2021 by refusing to call a special session. He now says he is likely to try to block the proposal in the 2022 regular session by the power of his pen — through his veto.

“As it is currently written, I don’t think I will be able to do that,” Reeves said referring to signing into law the bill that is expected to be offered during the 2022 session by legislative leaders.

Then Reeves said, “I am hopeful we can find at least 18 senators and 44 or 45 House members willing to vote against (the number needed to uphold his veto) so we can negotiate a true medical marijuana bill in our state.”

In 2021, while the Legislature was out of session, Reeves controlled the process because medical marijuana could not be taken up until he called a special session.

In the 2022 regular session, the governor still maintains a substantial amount of power in determining the fate of medical marijuana. After all, it takes an overwhelming two-thirds majority to override a Mississippi governor’s veto.

Overriding a gubernatorial veto used to be almost as easy for the Mississippi Legislature as taking candy from a baby. But when partisan politics began to emerge in the state, overriding a veto became much more difficult. For decades an overwhelming Democratic legislative majority had no problem overriding a fellow Democrat in the governor’s office.

But in the 2003 legislative session, Democrats in the House decided that overriding their fellow party mate — former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove — as he was preparing for a tough re-election campaign against Republican Haley Barbour was a bad idea. So, they did not, much to the chagrin of the House Democratic Speaker Tim Ford who wanted to conduct business as usual by overriding Musgrove.

Then for 16 years, legislative Republicans made sure that the vetoes of fellow Republican governors — first Barbour and then Phil Bryant — were not overridden.

The Republican legislative supermajority did override Reeves in his first year in office when he vetoed a large portion of the appropriations bill that funded the state’s kindergarten through 12th grade schools.

But overriding his veto of medical marijuana might not be as easy.

Remember there will be some legislators, primarily Republicans, who oppose medical marijuana and will not vote under any circumstances for a bill legalizing it. If there are enough of them combined with those who are loyal to or most likely agree with Reeves on the issue of limiting the amount of marijuana dispensed, it is possible that the overwhelming two-thirds majority needed to override the veto cannot be achieved.

Then, legislators who support medical marijuana will be forced to work with Reeves to try to hammer out an agreement.

Of course, the governor does risk political consequences if the ultimate result of his veto power play is that no medical marijuana bill is passed. Reeves can perhaps rightfully argue that legislators bear as much of the blame as he does. But the truth is he is the governor — by far the most highly visible of the politicians involved in the rift — so he most likely would receive the bulk of the blame.

And the fact that voters overwhelmingly approved the medical marijuana initiative in 2020 does not necessarily mean it will become law now that the Supreme Court struck it down.

In 1992 voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution that removed the ban on a state lottery. Still, Mississippi did not get a lottery.

While the lottery ban was removed from the Constitution, there were not enough votes in the Legislature (only a simple majority was needed) to pass a bill establishing a lottery. That did not happen until the summer of 2018 — 26 years later.

The post Gov. Reeves still holds some cards in regular session medical marijuana showdown appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The U.S. Department of Education has approved Mississippi’s plan for spending pandemic-related education funds and released the last third of the money to the state. 

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund is intended to help schools run safely throughout the pandemic and increase opportunities for students whose educational experience has been negatively impacted. The fund was first created in March 2020 in the Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and has been replenished multiple times throughout the pandemic by federal legislation. 

Mississippi was allocated $1.6 billion in the latest round of ESSER funds, this time through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The state received the first $1.08 billion in late March of this year and the remaining $543 million was released to the state yesterday. 

The plan includes a full return to in-person learning, encouraging local vaccine drives at schools, increased individual and small-group tutoring, summer enrichment programs, and the state’s telehealth program for mental health counseling. 

“Mississippi has prioritized in-person learning because it is the most effective way to keep students engaged, accelerate learning and address their social and emotional learning needs,” said Carey Wright, Mississippi state superintendent of education.

While some of these efforts – like a return to traditional learning and encouragement of vaccine drives – are already in place, others have been delayed. 

The telehealth program mentioned in the plan is a collaboration between the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Center for the Advancement of Youth (CAY) and the Achievement School District and Jefferson County School District. It consists of two parts: a program that aims to equip teachers with the skills to identify and respond to behavioral issues in their students, and a referral to a counselor for students who need more help. 

The program was initially set to launch in the fall but has been delayed until Jan. 12, 2022.

Teachers at both school districts told CAY officials their students are struggling with grief and loss, depression and anxiety, community violence and cyberbullying. Experts at UMMC will focus their efforts in those areas. 

Adrian Hammitte, the superintendent of Jefferson County School District, said the help is much needed as behavioral issues in both the upper elementary and junior high schools in his district have increased. 

“I think we all know over the last two years it has been extremely hard for the students, teachers and community members here,” he said. “And particularly in Jefferson County, if we look at our situation before COVID, it was already challenging.”  

The plan also includes improving connectivity and technology access for rural and low-income students.

 READ MORE: Follow the money: Mississippi Today tracks how the state is spending billions in pandemic relief funds

The post Mississippi’s plan for $1.6 billion in pandemic relief for education approved by the feds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

New programs in Mississippi will pay timber and farmland owners to store carbon as part of a growing market aimed at reducing emissions and slowing climate change.

Landowners can receive what are called “carbon credits” based on how much carbon they sequester, or store, in their trees or soil, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. The landowner can then sell those credits for money through an exchange, usually to companies looking to offset their own emissions.

The concept has existed for a while, but has picked up recent momentum as companies anticipate more government regulations around emissions. 

With an abundance of forest and a large timber industry, Mississippians are growing curious about the new potential for income. 

One timber carbon market exchange, a California-based company called NCX, began its first contracts with landowners in the state earlier this year. NCX is working with Mississippi State University to educate interested landowners on how they can earn credits for their trees.  

“The whole point is to get you to postpone a harvest that you were willing or ready to do right now, or there was some risk of that possibility,” explained MSU Extension forestry economist Shaun Tanger, who’s leading the public engagement effort. 

Tanger said the interest is taking off in Mississippi, where the timber market is a significant part of the economy relative to other states.

About 63% of the state is covered in forest, which feeds an industry valued at over a billion dollars annually, and which supplies products like lumber, poles and plywood. A 2008 MSU study found that the industry accounted for nearly one in ten jobs in the state.

“There’s an abundance of working forest relative to other parts of the country, and even some other states in the southeast,” Tanger said, adding that only maybe Alabama and Georgia compete with Mississippi’s timber supply and expertise. “We just do a really good job of growing trees here.” 

To participate, foresters – usually those with pine trees over at least a few dozen acres – have to defer harvesting for a year, and in exchange receive a credit based on the trees’ value, based on traits such as age and species, which help show the risk of them being harvested. Foresters can then auction those credits to companies looking to offset their own emissions, and usually receive between $5 to $20 per acre. 

Despite the low prices, Tanger said long-term the carbon market will induce competition, which is always good for business. That’s especially the case because there’s no shortage of of trees in the state or places to grow them, he explained. 

“The competition initially increases demand, and the supply is fixed,” he said. “But supply responds to demand, so longer term the outcome is going to be more trees on the landscape, because the mills are going to need the trees, the carbon exchanges are going to need the trees, and there’s a lot of acres that can be put into trees.”

More demand also leads to better management and thus a healthier forest, Tanger added, which leads to better carbon sequestration and other natural improvements, like to surrounding watersheds. 

Those interested can learn more by reaching out to the MSU Extension forestry program.

Carbon in the soil

The other growing carbon market is that for soil, which encourages farmers to adopt conservation practices on their land.

Compared to the timber market, though, the soil carbon market is the “wild, wild West,” said MSU Extension soil specialist Larry Oldham.

“We truly are in the pioneer phase of this,” Oldham said. He explained that there isn’t an exchange aimed at Mississippians like there is for timber, although there are farmers in the state earning carbon credits.

One company coordinating credits is Truterra, part of one of the largest farmer-run cooperatives in the country, Land O’ Lakes. Farmers interested can take a survey on Truterra’s website to see if they’re eligible and learn more about the program.

Sequestering carbon in soil centers on four main practices: keeping the soil covered as much as possible, decreasing tillage, rotating crops, and using cover crops, which protect the soil after the harvest. Those practices not only help retain carbon, but improve soil health in general as well. 

In order to receive credits, farmers must document that they’ve adopted those conservation techniques. Mississippi has been relatively slow to incorporate those practices, Oldham explained, which means a lot of farmers in the state could stand to benefit from the carbon market.

A downside, though, is that farmers who were already doing those practices for years wouldn’t qualify because they can’t document a change in their management. Farmers are also skeptical as to whether the payments, which are similar rates to those in the timber market, are worth making changes, Oldham said.

But carbon sequestration in soil has several long-term benefits, Oldham explained: improving soil health will help farms feed a growing population, and the same practices for storing carbon will also limit erosion and decrease the nutrient runoff in the water supply.  

The post New carbon markets in Mississippi pay landowners and farmers to reduce emissions appeared first on Mississippi Today.

NEW ORLEANS — Football fans will converge on New Orleans this weekend for Baylor, Ole Miss and the Sugar Bowl. None will come farther than Valentin Joanny, known to his nearly 1,900 Twitter followers as Ole Miss France.

None will have a more unique story, either.

Joanny has never been to Oxford, Mississippi, never even been to the United States. Yet nobody bleeds Rebel red and blue more than this 28-year-old dog trainer from suburban Paris.

If all goes right for Joanny, he will take a COVID test today, pass it, get on a jet Friday, fly from Paris to New Orleans, check into his rented loft in the Bywater, get some rest and then celebrate the New Year in the Superdome, cheering on his Rebels.

If all goes really right, Matt Corral will throw for nine touchdowns, Ole Miss will win by 30, and Joanny will celebrate with some of the many Twitter friends who made it financially possible for him to make the trip.

I know. That’s a lot to take in, but there’s plenty more. And I know you have questions. So did I.

How does a 28-year-old dog trainer, who lives near Disneyland Paris become such a rabid Ole Miss fan?

“I started watching college football in 2012 because of Johnny Manziel (the former Texas A&M quarterback),” Joanny answered in a recent email. “In 2014, I saw the movie ‘The Blind Side,’ so I started to learn a little more about the University of Tennessee and Ole Miss. The next day, I decided to watch the game against Alabama, and it was like a revelation to me…”

That would be Oct. 4, 2014. Ole Miss defeated undefeated Alabama 23-17. Bo Wallace threw for three touchdowns. The Rebels out-scored Bama 20-3 in the second half. Senquez Golson sealed the deal with a late interception. Bedlam ensued. Goalposts toppled. Oxford turned upside down. Yes, and on the other side of the Atlantic, watching in the wee hours of the next morning, a new Ole Miss fan was born.

Or, as Joanny puts it, “It was like a revelation for me: Dr. Bo, Treadwell, the upset, the uniform, I immediately fell in love with the Rebels.”

Some more background on this one-man Ole Miss French fan club: “I started tennis at a very young age at three years old, I was pretty good at this sport,” Joanny writes. “I played handball, rugby, football, I have always enjoyed playing and watching sport.”

Joanny continues, “American sport is generally broadcast here in the evening until the early hours of the morning. When you’re young it’s a little harder to be able to follow the NBA, the NFL or college football. I must have started following the NBA and NFL at the age of 16 or 17 and college football a year or two later…”

Then came the Alabama-Ole Miss game and the revelation. 

“Now I have a twitter page on Ole Miss. I see all the matches. I have a podcast with friends where we talk about college football to promote it in France. You can say sport is my passion.”

I would say.

Joanny tweets, sometimes in English and often in French, about what he sees. His Twitter page got a big boost three months ago when Ole Miss pummeled Tulane 61-21 and Corral accounted for seven touchdowns.

“C’EST INDECENT!” Joanny tweeted to describe Corral’s record-setting performance, meaning what Corral did to Tulane was indecent. (It really was).

Writer, editor and college football super-tweeter Alex McDaniel – @AlexMcDaniel to Twitter users – saw Joanny’s tweet, loved it and re-tweeted it to her nearly 27,000 followers. Joanny’s Twitter following soared from about 400 into four figures.

As Ole Miss continued winning football games – and Joanny continued tweeting – it became apparent the Rebels were headed for a major bowl. Someone suggested a “GoFundMe” page to bring Joanny across the Atlantic to attend. It happened. The goal was 2,200 Euros. It has raised, as I write, 2,875 Euros (about $3,250). Joanny says that’s more than enough. “Thanks to Rebel Nation,” he says.

All that’s left is to pass the COVID test. (The omicron variant is raging in France, just as here.)

Yes, Joanny says, he hopes to meet many of the Ole Miss fans here. No, he says, he can’t have a drink with all who have invited him, or he wouldn’t make the kickoff.

Yes, he says, he does have a message – more than the perfunctory “Hotty Toddy” – for those who contributed.

Writes Joanny, “Thank you everyone, nothing would have been possible without you and your support. I will never forget what you have done for me. I will live one of the most beautiful experiences of my life.

“Merci.”

The post French Quarter and Sugar Bowl, here comes (hopefully) ‘Ole Miss France’ appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi poultry farmers who suffered losses when restaurants shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic will receive $23 million from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

Mark Leggett, president of the Mississippi Poultry Association, said the federal aid is a first. Because most chicken farmers are contract growers for poultry processing plants, they’re not eligible for federal crop insurance and had not previously received any federal assistance during the pandemic despite suffering losses.

“Almost in one day it seemed, all the restaurants closed,” Leggett said. “That’s about half of the chicken sold. Of the chicken that’s not exported, about half goes to restaurants and the other half to groceries … It was a shock back in 2020, and some growers did really suffer.”

USDA announced that $270 million in pandemic aid would be given to poultry and livestock contract producers nationwide. A total of $22.7 million will be distributed to 557 Mississippi chicken growers and about $400,000 to state egg contract producers who suffered pandemic losses.

Leggett said there are about 1,600 poultry producers in Mississippi. Poultry (including eggs) has been the states largest agricultural crop for nearly three decades, with annual farm production of about $3 billion a year for the last decade.

Sens. Roger Wicker of Mississippi and Chris Coons of Delaware led a successful bipartisan effort urging USDA to set aside the assistance for chicken farmers in the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2021.

“Chicken farmers are a vitally important part of Mississippi agriculture,” Wicker said in a statement. “I appreciate the USDA awarding these funds and working with farmers to ensure they have the resources needed following challenges associated with COVID-19.”

Leggett said the chicken market has rebounded from the early pandemic downturn.

“Demand is up,” Leggett said. “I know this is true at my house — as the price of beef goes up, people fall back to chicken. That has helped with demand.”

FOLLOW THE MONEY: How will Mississippi spend billions in federal pandemic stimulus dollars?

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