OurTupelo

The post Marshall Ramsey: Battle of the Tax Cut appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Legislation is pending this session that is intended to prevent the courts from overturning a citizen-sponsored constitutional amendment passed in 2011 to prevent the government from taking private land for the use of other private entities.

The legislation would put in general law the constitutional amendment that was approved by voters in 2011. The reason that is needed, officials say, is because of a May 2021 court ruling where the medical marijuana initiative that was approved by voters in November 2020 was ruled invalid by the Mississippi Supreme Court.

Some question whether the 2011 eminent domain resolution preventing the taking of private property for the use of other private entities could be ruled unconstitutional just as the medical marijuana initiative was.

“We felt we needed to make it clear to the Supreme Court that the legislative intent is to enforce the eminent domain constitutional amendment as it was voted on by the citizens,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate.

READ MORE: Mississippi Supreme Court strikes down ballot initiative process

The Senate has passed a rules suspension resolution that would allow the Legislature to take up a bill to put in general law the same eminent domain language that was approved by voters in 2011. Presumably, if the Legislature acts, the Supreme Court will have no reason to rule against the language.

The rules suspension resolution is pending in the House Rules Committee. Rules Chair Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, said he is studying the legislation and will make a decision in the coming days after talking to leadership about whether to pass it to the full House for consideration.

A rules suspension is needed because bills that would have addressed the issue died earlier in the session when they were not passed before key deadlines. At this point, it will take a two-thirds vote of both chambers to revive the eminent domain issue.

The eminent domain initiative was sponsored and led in 2011 by the Mississippi Farm Bureau, a statewide group that supports farming and agriculture interests. Farm Bureau got involved in the issue after a controversial U.S. Supreme Court ruling in 2005 that gave local governments the authority to take private property and transfer it to other private entities unless state laws prevented it.

In a statement, Farm Bureau, a powerful lobby at the state Capitol, voiced support for the Legislature suspending the rules to take up the issue.

“The Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation and our 180,000 member families support codifying, in the Mississippi Code, the provisions from the Mississippi Constitution as long as it is the exact language from the Mississippi Constitution. Mississippians voted overwhelming in favor of Initiative 31 during the November General election in 2011,” the statement read.

Farm Bureau goes on to say, “We support a Mississippi law that would protect private property rights. We feel a U.S. Supreme Court decision that gives local governments the right to seize private property from owners using the ‘eminent domain’ principle for transfer to other private entities so as long as it is part of a plan for economic development should be against state law.”

The 2021 ruling by the state Supreme Court found that the entire initiative process was invalid because language outlining how the process was to be used stated the mandated signatures of registered voters needed to place an issue on the ballot should be gathered equally from five congressional districts as they existed in the 1990s. The state lost one of its five congressional districts as a result of the 2000 U.S. Census, thus making the process invalid, the Supreme Court ruled.

There have been only three voter initiatives approved: eminent domain, a voter identification requirement and medical marijuana. The Legislature passed a medical marijuana law earlier this session after the Supreme Court ruling. In earlier sessions, the Legislature placed in general law the voter identification requirement, meaning it is not likely to be impacted by the 2021 Supreme Court ruling. Eminent domain is the only successful ballot initiative that has not been addressed after the Supreme Court ruling.

Legislation also is pending this session to correct the problems found by the Supreme Court with the initiative process so that it can be restored.

The post Lawmakers consider bill to ban taking private property for private use appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The leaders of associations representing 299 cities and 82 counties in Mississippi are calling on lawmakers — who are in a stalemate over tax cuts — to move forward on spending billions in federal pandemic stimulus money that could help local governments with historic infrastructure projects.

“The cities and counties of this state are ready and willing to start turning dirt and moving vital infrastructure projects forward through the use of (American Rescue Plan Act) matching grants,” Greenville Mayor Errick Simmons and Choctaw County Supervisor Chris McIntire wrote in a letter to lawmakers on Monday. Simmons and McIntire are presidents of the Mississippi Municipal League and Mississippi Association of Supervisors, respectively.

READ MORE: Mississippi procrastinates as other states plan for, spend billions in pandemic stimulus

“However, we cannot do this without legislative approval,” the two wrote. “We are concerned the federal government could start ‘clawing back’ some of the funds that have not been committed or spent … The clock is ticking on these ARPA funds. We are concerned that if the Legislature waits until 2023 to address the ARPA funds, it could possibly jeopardize the use of some of the fund in Mississippi.”

The two said local governments might run out of time to plan, bid out and complete projects by the Dec. 31, 2026, deadline to have the money spent, particularly given supply chain and inflation issues.

Mississippi cities and counties are receiving a combined $900 million from ARPA. The state is receiving $1.8 billion, and the Senate and House have offered proposals for the state to match local government infrastructure spending to allow for more meaningful upgrades. Many cities and counties have dilapidated water, sewerage, roads and other infrastructure, and the ARPA funds offer what Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has called a “transformational, generational” opportunity.

READ MORE: Hosemann fears federal funds might be lost, squandered in battle over taxes

But Hosemann and his Senate leadership have been at odds with House Speaker Philip Gunn and his leadership over tax cuts. Gunn has been adamant that legislation be passed this year to eliminate the state’s personal income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue. The Senate has proposed a more modest tax cut that still would be one of the largest ever passed by the state.

Gunn and other House leaders have threatened to hold up ARPA spending and other legislation if the Senate doesn’t come around on the income tax elimination plan. Gov. Tate Reeves, who also supports eliminating the income tax, praised Gunn’s threat of holding up ARPA spending as “impressive commitment and a smart move. The taxpayers should be the first to benefit when we have this much money.”

Mississippi is already behind the curve on spending the ARPA money. It is one of just four states, districts or territories not to have allocated substantial amounts of ARPA money to date, along with Idaho, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Washington, D.C., according to data collected by the National Conference of State Legislatures.

Hosemann, who traveled the state meeting with local government leaders and held hearings in the summer and fall of 2021 to plan ARPA spending, has urged Gunn and the House to move forward on it.

In an op-ed column he penned over the weekend, Hosemann said: “Let me be very clear: failing to appropriate the one-time $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds for infrastructure and recovery projects is not a rational option for our state.

“Yet, last week members of the state House of Representatives made public comments hinging the allocation of these one-time dollars on the passage of unrelated legislation.

“… Meanwhile, the citizens and communities who elected us are in limbo, waiting for this critical funding to increase the number of available hospital ICU beds, extend broadband service to rural areas, support child protective services, and boost our economy through workforce development and tourism.

“The Senate hit the ground running in January, having already met with stakeholders, held public hearings, and developed an initial ARPA plan before the Session started. This is because the clock is ticking. Mississippi does not have time to wait.”

The post Cities, counties urge lawmakers to approve federal stimulus spending amid tax cut standoff appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The state House on Tuesday passed the largest teacher pay raise in state history — one that kept growing as the House and Senate haggled — on to the governor.

“This has been like making sausage — it’s not pretty, but the end result is pretty good,” House Education Chairman Richard Bennett, R-Long Beach, said before the House voted 118-4 to send a $246 million teacher raise to Gov. Tate Reeves, who indicated he would sign it into law.

The average annual teacher raise will be $5,140, and the raise will begin for the 2022-2023 school year. Starting teacher pay will increase from $37,123 to $41,638, putting Mississippi above the southeastern and national averages.

Mississippi’s teacher pay by several metrics is the lowest in the nation, and the state has struggled to recruit and retain teachers.

The raise grew from about $210 million early in this year’s legislative session to $246 million as the House and Senate haggled over details. The final bill includes annual step increases for teachers of at least $400 and larger pay bumps of $1,200 to $1,350 every five years — a component Senate leaders pushed for.

The raise will be implemented in a single year, as the House proposed, not over two years as in the original Senate plan. The bill also includes a $2,000 raise for teacher assistants.

Reeves, when campaigning for governor in 2019, promised to raise teacher’s pay. This year he had proposed a smaller raise of $3,300, spread out over three years.

In a statement Tuesday, Reeves said, “In 2019, I made a commitment to the teachers of our state that, as Governor, I would relentlessly push to ensure that they get the pay raise which they have earned and deserve. I intend to fulfill that promise and greatly look forward to seeing this legislation arrive at my desk.”

The House and Senate deal on the teacher raise bill marks a rare agreement on major issues this legislative session. House and Senate leaders have been in a standoff over tax cuts, which has threatened to derail other legislation as the 2022 session enters its final weeks. Education advocates had feared the teacher raise would get caught up in the tax fight.

Earlier in the session, the House killed the Senate pay raise bill without a vote. The Senate reluctantly passed the House bill after making changes to keep the pay raise alive.

Antonio Castanon Luna, executive director of the Mississippi Association of Educators, on Tuesday praised lawmakers final passage of the raise, and said it’s a “double investment.”

“It’s an investment in the future of Mississippi, and an investment in our state right now,” Luna said. “We will be able to recruit teachers to our classrooms now and for years to come, which will help our students. And it will provide a more educated workforce, a better prepared workforce for the future of Mississippi.”

The post Lawmakers pass largest teacher pay raise in Mississippi history appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Talyr Hall, a 30-year-old Brookhaven native and resident physician at a Pine Belt medical facility, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 2016 while she was in medical school.

Her life since then has been a painful cycle of intensive treatments and medications that have life-altering side effects. One of the most painful symptoms of multiple sclerosis is spasticity, or abnormal muscle tightness due to prolonged contraction. Spasticity was not fixed by a stem cell transplant she had in 2018, and the side effects were not completely alleviated through powerful prescription medicines.

“A lot of patients have side effects (of medication) that most people don’t want to deal with,” Hall said. “Some of the side effects are worse than the treatment.”

While taking an immunosuppressant medication, Hall was sick every week for about three months. She said that she contracted every contagious illness that her patients had. 

“I didn’t have an immune system to fight off anything, so that was frustrating,” she said. Hall also had a slow heart rate as a side effect to the medication — her heart rate never went over 50, which made her physically weak.

But after Mississippi lawmakers legalized medical marijuana in February, Hall sees some promise both for herself and for many of her patients.

Hall says that she would be a medical marijuana patient if it weren’t for her job, which currently prohibits use of the drug. She sees the benefit of the plant and how it can help her patients. 

“As a physician, I have patients that would benefit from it,” Hall said. “I do have a condition where medical marijuana would help, but I’d rather be an advocate for other people.”

According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, studies have generally shown that some medical marijuana products help with symptoms of pain and spasticity, but more research is needed.

Medical marijuana is often compared to other medications that are pushed by pharmaceutical companies. But Hall sees the need for both and rejects the stigmas of medical marijuana. 

“It’s a naturally occurring substance,” she said. “I do know of people, not personally, but I’ve heard and I’ve had patients tell me that they go and buy it from the street which is terrifying because you don’t know what’s in it. I think it’s just like any other medicine. We prescribe medicine that has side effects all the time, and people take those because it is marketed as a medicine, whereas (medical marijuana) is not chemically modified and it grows naturally.”

During her experience, she has seen several patients take multiple medications to combat the side effects of other medications. 

“There is still use for pharmaceuticals, but I think there are some things that we could use instead,” Hall said. “We deal with a lot of polypharmacy, especially in elderly patients who are on different medications. I think medical marijuana could help with this.”

When Gov. Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act in February, the governor said that medical marijuana could potentially lead to increased recreational marijuana use and less people working. 

Hall’s perspective of the new law is different. 

“There will always be people who take advantage the system, but you have to do what benefits the people who would benefit from it,” Hall said. “You shouldn’t punish the ones who will benefit from it just because there are people who can’t play by the rules.”

The post This Mississippi doctor could use medical marijuana. So could many of her patients. appeared first on Mississippi Today.

A state senator has formally asked the Mississippi Ethics Commission to decide whether House Republican Caucus meetings — the closed-door, secretive Capitol gatherings that are open only to 77 Republicans in the House of Representatives — violate the state’s Open Meetings Act.

The House Republican Caucus meetings, which have been convened regularly since Philip Gunn became Speaker of the House in 2012, are the subject of close scrutiny by both Republican and Democratic lawmakers this session as House and Senate leaders battle over major tax proposals.

Earlier this week, Mississippi Today chronicled what occurs inside the meetings that are closed to the public and the press. Major pieces of legislation authored or supported by Republican leaders including Gunn are often discussed and debated inside the backroom meetings.

Those deliberations often mean lawmakers will ask few or no questions during public committee meetings and on the House floor. In caucus meetings in recent years under Gunn’s leadership, Republican members have been asked to vote on specific bills, several lawmakers told Mississippi Today.

READ MORE: Speaker Philip Gunn uses secret Capitol meetings to pass his bills and restrict public debate. Is it legal?

The meetings had never been challenged before the Ethics Commission or state courts. But several past opinions — including a 2017 Mississippi Supreme Court ruling — indicate the meetings could be illegal because the House Republican Caucus represents much more than a majority of the entire House of Representatives and is deliberating public policy in private.

Sen. Sollie Norwood, a Democrat from Jackson, requested an opinion from the Ethics Commission on March 4 about whether the House Republican Caucus meetings violate the Open Meetings Act.

“The request is meant to clear up concerns with a process that has been at best misused,” Norwood told Mississippi Today on Monday evening. “It is not a partisan issue. It seeks clarity on the confines of an open, deliberate process regarding how public policy should be considered at various levels of government.”

(Note: Norwood’s letter to the Ethics Commission can be found at the bottom of this post.)

If the Ethics Commission opines that the caucus meetings are illegal, it could categorically change the way Gunn governs the House of Representatives. House leaders also use a mobile app to communicate with the entire House Republican Caucus, though the app is not typically used to deliberate legislation out of public view.

Several House Republicans told Mississippi Today that Gunn sometimes uses the caucus meetings to strong-arm rank-and-file lawmakers into supporting bills he finds favorable. Many at the Capitol have questioned whether the meetings violate Mississippi’s Open Meetings Act.

Gunn’s staff maintains that the House Republican Caucus is not obligated to adhere to the Open Meetings Act because it is not a “public body,” as defined by state law.

“The House Republican Caucus is not a public body under the Open Meetings Act,” said Emily Simmons, Gunn’s communications director. Trey Dellinger, Gunn’s chief of staff, shared the same justification with Mississippi Today.

Senate leaders do not agree. When Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann became lieutenant governor and presiding officer of the Senate in 2020, second-term Republican state Sen. Mike Seymour inquired whether caucus meetings were legal under the Open Meetings Act. After Senate staff did some research, Hosemann decided that he would not convene Senate Republican Caucus meetings because the staff advised him the meetings could very likely violate the Open Meetings Act.

Anyone can file a complaint with the Mississippi Ethics Commission if they believe transparency laws are being violated. But the commission typically expedites requests made by lawmakers. It has been 18 days since Norwood filed the request for an opinion, and the commission has not yet issued a ruling.

The Ethics Commission is an eight-member body appointed to four-year terms by the governor, lieutenant governor, speaker of the House, and chief justice of the Supreme Court.

Several members of the commission have close ties to the state’s political apparatus or the officials who appointed them. Spencer Ritchie, appointed to the commission in 2018 by then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, was executive director of the Mississippi Republican Party for more than two years.

Erin Lane, an attorney appointed to the commission in 2020 by now-Gov. Reeves, is the wife of one of Reeves’ closest friends, college fraternity brother and campaign donor Colby Lane.

Hosemann appointed Ben Stone, a Republican donor and longtime friend of Hosemann’s, to the Ethics Commission in 2021. Stone has been reappointed to the commission by every lieutenant governor since 1981.

One of Gunn’s two appointees currently sitting on the Ethics Commission is Sean Milner, who is president of the Mississippi Baptist Children’s Village. Milner and Gunn have both been leaders at Morrison Heights Baptist Church in Clinton. It is unclear whether Milner will recuse himself from the commission’s deliberations of Norwood’s opinion request regarding Gunn’s private meetings.

READ MORE: Philip Gunn and Delbert Hosemann remain at an impasse on tax cuts

The post Ethics Commission to decide if House GOP Caucus meetings are illegal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The post Marshall Ramsey: Simon Says appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann details his issues with House Speaker Philip Gunn’s proposal to eliminate the state’s personal income tax. Hosemann said he wants to cut taxes, but “I’m not going to risk the future of Mississippi.” Hosemann also says Mississippi is already behind other states in allocating billions in federal pandemic stimulus funds and warns delays could have dire consequences, including the state losing the money if Congress takes back unspent funds – as has been proposed in Washington recently.

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side here.

The post Podcast: Delbert Hosemann on why he opposes income tax elimination appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Note: This analysis first published in Mississippi Today’s weekly legislative newsletter. Subscribe to our free newsletter for exclusive early access to weekly analyses.

All 77 Republicans in the Mississippi House of Representatives received a message early last Monday, March 14: Speaker Philip Gunn had called a House Republican Caucus meeting for 3 p.m. later that day.

Inside the Capitol committee room, which was closed to the public and reporters, Gunn told the Republicans that he, his chief of staff Trey Dellinger and Rep. Trey Lamar had majorly reworked a tax reform proposal that, if passed, could change the way Mississippi government funds public services for generations to come.

Gunn’s tax proposal is at the center of an epic leadership clash at the Capitol. The speaker and other House leaders have publicly said they will not allocate most of the $1.8 billion in federal stimulus funds until Senate Republicans back Gunn’s plan to eliminate the state’s income tax. Senate leaders, meanwhile, oppose Gunn’s tax plan, fearing it does too much too quickly and could jeopardize the state’s ability to fund the state government in the long run.

Very few House Republicans knew the details of Gunn’s updated tax proposal until that closed-door Monday caucus meeting. Several meeting attendees, who spoke with Mississippi Today on the condition of anonymity, said there was little discussion of the tax proposal or questions about the changes in the meeting.

Just a few minutes after the caucus meeting ended, the majority-Republican House Ways and Means Committee passed the bill in a regular public meeting. Every House Republican on the committee voted “yea” after asking no questions about the bill, despite not learning of the details until just a few minutes earlier. 

A few minutes after the bill passed committee, the entire House passed it on the floor. No Republican asked a question, and every Republican voted “yea” on the bill.

The next day, Gunn held a press conference at the Capitol to tout “unanimous House Republican support” for his tax proposal, using it as the basis to chastise Senate Republicans for not falling in line. Dozens of House Republicans stood behind Gunn for the cameras to see.

The caucus meetings are just one tool Gunn regularly employs to strong-arm House Republicans into passing the bills he authors or supports and to restrict public debate among his fellow partymates.

Here’s how it works, according to several House Republicans who spoke with Mississippi Today:

The weekly closed-door Republican caucus meetings are usually the first place rank-and-file House Republicans are informed of details about major policies that Gunn and a handful of other House leaders determine privately. In the caucus meetings, Gunn asks the group of Republicans for support. Caucus members who feel they can’t support the bill in question are asked to speak privately about their positions with the relevant committee chairmen — Gunn appointees who are the speaker’s closest allies. 

If members still feel they can’t support the bill after speaking with the chairman, the member will often be sent to speak with Gunn in a private meeting. Gunn can be forceful in those meetings, several House Republicans said, often demanding support and leaving little room for conversation or pushback.

Rank-and-file members often feel forced to vote for a policy they may not personally support or feel their district would support over fear Gunn or other House leaders will retaliate against them.

Mississippi speakers of the House have long used similar tactics to garner support on any given bill, and the bottom line for Republican representatives is simple: Not getting in line with the speaker’s wishes could lose them power and influence for their constituents back home, and in the worst cases, it could earn them a Republican primary challenger in the next election.

The effects of the strict process are clear: This session, Gunn is the primary author on 14 major pieces of legislation that are still pending or have already passed. No House Republican has voted against a single one of those bills at any point during the legislative process.

Gunn has convened these closed-door House Republican Caucus meetings since he became speaker in 2012. The meetings are typically called via private group text message and are never announced publicly. They are never open to the public. Several House Republicans told Mississippi Today that the caucus, in recent years under Gunn’s leadership, has been asked to vote on individual bills in these caucus meetings — though vote-taking in the meetings reportedly hasn’t happened this session.

Many people at the Capitol — including several Senate Republican leaders — question whether the House Republican Caucus meetings violate Mississippi’s Open Meetings Act, the state law that dictates how governmental bodies meet.

When Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann became lieutenant governor and presiding officer of the Senate in 2020, second-term Republican state Sen. Mike Seymour inquired whether caucus meetings were legal under the Open Meetings Act. After Senate staff did some research, Hosemann decided that he would not convene Senate Republican Caucus meetings because the staff advised him the meetings could very likely violate the Open Meetings Act.

The Open Meetings Act bars any public body from discussing policy changes privately, unless in a designated executive session. The state law defines “public body” as: “Any executive or administrative board, commission, authority, council, department, agency, bureau or any other policymaking entity, or committee thereof, of the State of Mississippi, or any political subdivision or municipal corporation of the state … which is supported wholly or in part by public funds or expends public funds, and any standing, interim or special committee of the Mississippi Legislature.”

The House Republican Caucus, boasting 77 members, makes up 63% of the entire Mississippi House of Representatives. A quorum of the House, according to legislative rules, is 50%. The caucus has the numbers to pass any bill they want without a single Democratic or independent vote, making these private caucus discussions critical to the policymaking process.

“In a 2017 decision involving a city council, the Mississippi Supreme Court reiterated that a meeting occurs under the Open Meetings Act when a quorum of a public body deliberates a matter under their authority,” said Tom Hood, executive director of the Mississippi Ethics Commission. Hood would not speculate on whether the House Republican Caucus meetings violated state law.

The Open Meetings Act does not specifically mention legislative caucuses, and caucus meetings have never been challenged in the courts or before the Mississippi Ethics Commission.

Gunn’s staff, when questioned by Mississippi Today, reiterated several times this session that the House Republican Caucus is not obligated to adhere to the Open Meetings Act because it is not a “public body.”

“The House Republican Caucus is not a public body under the Open Meetings Act,” said Emily Simmons, Gunn’s communications director. Dellinger, Gunn’s chief of staff, shared the same justification with Mississippi Today.

House leaders have used that interpretation to bar the public from the caucus meetings. During the March 14 caucus meeting regarding the tax bill, two journalists were barred entry.

The process by which Gunn and House leaders govern — including the caucus meetings — has created tension inside the Capitol that hasn’t been seen in years. Some political observers say the bickering House and Senate leaders is worse than it’s been since the tort reform debate of 2004.

A top Senate Republican leader, granted anonymity to speak candidly, put it this way:

“Take a look at votes in the House and the Senate. In the Senate, we have Republicans who are voting how they want to or how they think their districts would vote — even if it goes against what Senate leadership wants. That’s the way lawmaking should be. We may lose some votes, but that’s the way it goes. Everyone can go back to their districts and genuinely explain why they voted the way they did. But take a look at the House votes. They’re always in line with what leadership wants. You think every single House Republican really agrees with the speaker on every bill he wants passed? Funny how that works.”

READ MORE: Philip Gunn and Delbert Hosemann remain at an impasse on tax cuts

Several House Republicans who spoke with Mississippi Today said they appreciate the caucus meetings because it gave them time to hammer out concerns or questions about bills before getting into a messy committee or floor debate that could delay final votes or kill the bills altogether.

But debate of legislation — especially legislation as transformational as Gunn’s tax plan — is intended to be public. The Open Meetings Act protects Mississippians and helps them make sounder decisions about whether their elected officials are representing their best interests.

Legal or not, the House Republican Caucus meetings jeopardize the democratic process. When major legislative debates occur only in the back rooms of the Capitol, the public cannot fully understand if their representative has their backs. Constituents are stripped of power, left without any genuine explanation for their lawmakers’ votes or concerns. Voters, in turn, are forced to make less informed decisions at the polls every four years. This dealing only stands to protect the politicians in power and harm the people they represent.

Perhaps House leaders should read the reasoning that their legislative predecessors wrote when the Mississippi Open Meetings Act was first enacted:

“It being essential to the fundamental philosophy of the American constitutional form of representative government and to the maintenance of a democratic society that public business be performed in an open and public manner, and that citizens be advised of and be aware of the performance of public officials and the deliberations and decisions that go into the making of public policy, it is hereby declared to be the policy of the State of Mississippi that the formation and determination of public policy is public business and shall be conducted at open meetings except as otherwise provided herein.”

The post Speaker Philip Gunn uses secret Capitol meetings to pass his bills and restrict public debate. Is it legal? appeared first on Mississippi Today.