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Editor’s note: Gov. Tate Reeves delivered his annual State of the State address on Jan. 26, 2021. Below is a transcript of his speech.

Thank you, Lieutenant Governor Hosemann and Speaker Gunn. 

To members of the legislature and other public servants who would normally be here, I wish that we could be together today. We all know that normal has not been in the cards in 2020 or 2021 so far. But I know that you will be able to thoughtfully carry out your work even despite the challenges before us. I’m grateful for your service and I’m even more grateful for your friendship.

I’m very proud to be joined by my beautiful wife, who has been the steady hand I’ve needed during this tumultuous year. Elee, thank you for being a friend, a great mom to our daughters, and a true partner in this work.

Ladies and gentlemen, I am here to say that our state is unconquerable. We have taken every hit that can be thrown. We’ve been tested by every force of nature, disease, and human frailty. It is already a miracle that our state is still standing, but we are not simply standing. We are marching forward. 

In this year of crisis and confusion, there has been a solid foundation. It is the Mississippi spirit that binds all of us together. This is not a state of people who have cowered in the face of adversity. 

We’ve got grit, and pride, and faith. We know how to overcome our differences and work together. We know how to do hard things. We know how to treat one another. 

As we saw on Easter Sunday, this is a state of people who won’t let a tornado leave the ground before arriving with chainsaws to clear their neighbors’ land. As we saw after Zeta, it is a state of people who won’t let the waves of a hurricane rush back to the sea before ensuring their neighbor has food and warmth. We are a state of people who step up, time and again, and have exceeded all expectations this year. 

Tennessee Williams was a world-renowned playwright, and a son of Lowndes County, Mississippi. He once wrote that, “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks.” What he meant was that decency, kindness, empathy, and goodness always win, even when facing hardened opposition. That has happened here, in our state, in our time. We’ve seen courage and compassion beat the forces of chaos and destruction in Mississippi. The victory isn’t final, but we can see it here every day.

That victory is visible in the long hours of nurses, teachers, and first responders. It is visible in the lives saved by ordinary heroes administering care – physical, emotional, and spiritual – on a daily basis in our state. 

It is because of those people that Mississippi was able to move forward when the rest of the world came to a halt. In Mississippi, we never stopped working. We never shut down our farms and we never shut down our factories. What we did slow down for safety, we opened up as quickly and as widely as we possibly could. 

We’ve been cautious, never panicked. We’ve been safe, but not stubborn. Life cannot be lived in perpetual idleness and isolation. We realized that, and we’ve adapted our plans throughout the year – responding swiftly when the spread was most severe and opening up whenever it is possible. 

And that has made a tremendous difference. Despite the once in a century pandemic, Mississippi’s economy actually grew year over year. Think about that. We were the third-best state in the country for job recovery. We had more tourism spending return than any other state in the country – we were number one!

That’s not just because of an open economy. It’s because Mississippians don’t want welfare, they want to work. They recognize the pride and dignity that comes with it, and they’ve been eager to return when given the opportunity. 

It is also why, as we look forward, we cannot be content with where we are. We can never simply say “that’s good enough.” 

I don’t want to compete with the Mississippi of the last fifty years. I don’t want to compete with Mississippi of the last decade. I don’t want to compete with Mississippi of last year. I want to compete with the best – Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, Texas. Because I know we can compete, and I know we can win. 

We can get in the ring with anybody, and we can leave with more jobs and higher wages. Mississippians can bring more skill and dedication to any project than anyone else, anywhere in the world. We work harder than anyone. Why shouldn’t we get the best jobs, the best expansions, and best headquarters? I believe we can. And as Mississippi’s own, the great Dizzy Dean, once said: “If you can do it, it ain’t braggin’.”

This is a time of global upheaval, uncertainty, and chaos. And it is in those times that fortunes are made. We need to make Mississippi’s fortune today – this is the moment in our history to do it. We’ve chosen a new banner, we’ve improved our education, and we’ve shown the world that we’re open for business. Now we need to go out and win high-paying jobs for the people of our state. 

I believe that in order to fully capture the potential of this historic moment, we must think big. We need a bold move. This is the time for an action that will turn heads all across the country and get money and people flowing in. And I believe that move is the elimination of the income tax. It is a reward for our hard workers, and an incentive for others to invest here, to grow here, and to live here. 

We can transform our economy. We can do it in a smart way, recognizing that it will take a few years to phase in. But we can change a generation of lives here, by attracting the jobs and wages we deserve. I am ready to work with legislators on this, and I know that there is an appetite for this type of boldness.

There are still many who say that we can’t lower taxes because it puts new government spending at risk. And I understand that it is often good politics to act like something from the government is a gift. The far left has played that tune for generations. 

But we have to be clear: the government does not have anything that it does not first take from a taxpayer. And the people of this state understand that. We have to respect the workers of Mississippi enough to recognize when we can show restraint and stop taking from them. Allow you to spend your money that you make, and it will grow our economy beyond belief.

I also believe we need to sharpen one particular tool to get our economy rolling – our state’s workforce development. We don’t need Mississippians to be stuck in low-paying jobs. We want them to embark on careers with good pay and freedom. The best way to accomplish that is to help lift young Mississippians up – give them access to training that puts them in a position to succeed. 

The legislature made great progress in this effort last legislative session. I’m very grateful for their work. Now, I’m calling on the legislature to continue their wise investments in this mission. It is essential. It is how we will succeed. It is how we will lift people out of poverty and into proud work. I know they share that goal.

That mission really begins years sooner, with a solid education. Mississippi has made incredible strides – number one in the nation in improvements. Now we need to, once again, set our sights even higher. This is not good enough, we can be better.

This year, in spite of tremendous pressure, we recognized that education is essential. It cannot be accomplished at scale without the incredible efforts of in-person educators. It seems obvious in hindsight, but there were tremendous headwinds. I know that we made the right decision to open our schools and allow our children and parents access to a true education. 

We need to keep working. We need to keep fighting for every child to have access to the education that they deserve. We need to ensure that parents have the choice to save their child from a district that lets them down. And we need to reward our teachers for the exceptional, life-changing work that they do. 

I support a teacher pay raise. I know the Senate has already passed the Lieutenant Governor’s plan, and I know that the Speaker and the House have always been supportive of raises for teachers. I’ll be eager to sign any raise that the legislature can send me. Our teachers have earned it. It’s the right way to invest.

There’s a lot more policy and politics to be hashed out in the coming year. Some of it is even important. But I know the people of Mississippi have heard a lot from me over the last year, so I want to keep this address on point. I want the people of Mississippi to know my focus for the weeks, months, and year ahead:

First, we need to crush this virus and get back to our way of life. The virus is still here, and it cannot be solved by ignoring it. We have to defeat it, because Mississippians are done. We’re done burying loved ones who were lost to this virus. We’re done with stressed hospitals. We’re done with the fearful talk of lockdowns and shutdowns. We’re ready for community again. 

We all want schools to flourish with children learning and playing carefree. We want businesses thriving, with crowds of customers joined together. We want to let down the constant guard, and be joyful together. We want to be unafraid of fellowship with our friends and our neighbors. 

It is one thing to eliminate government restrictions. Most of those went away last summer. It is another to be truly free from fear, and to have no more anxiety when we come together. 

It will be a great day when we can gather in stadiums, churches, restaurants and bars –shoulder to shoulder – without the quiet fear of COVID. When you can celebrate with strangers after a touchdown, sing loudly at a concert not muffled by a mask, and just live life without fear. True camaraderie. That day is coming. It’s coming sooner than we think. There is one more hurdle to that: the rapid distribution of the Coronavirus vaccine. 

I reject the false narrative that is being pushed by some which says this is our new normal. That even after vaccination, we need to continue to hide away and live in perpetual isolation and fear. That’s just wrong. 

This is it. This is our moment. We can see the light at the end of the tunnel, and Mississippi is sprinting towards it. Last weekend, we celebrated 100,000 vaccines delivered. That took us about six weeks. We’ve done another 100,000 vaccinations since then, and as we speak we are likely delivering our 200,000th vaccine! That’s because we refused to accept a slow pace – we went from the worst state in the country at the beginning of the process to operating at peak capacity.

I promise that we will smash every roadblock. We will get this done as safely and quickly as we possibly can, and allow people to protect themselves from the virus. It is my most immediate priority, and I assure you it has my full attention.

I also have a personal goal. It’s one that I know I will fall short of, but I’m still aiming at it daily. It is to cultivate more empathy. It’s been in short supply in this world for some time now. That’s been on display across our nation, too. And too often that leads us to see one another as enemies. It leads to corrosion in trust. We as a people cannot allow cruelty to win. We must rise above. We must love our neighbors as ourselves.  

We’ll always have spirited debate and disagreement. You can fight for what you believe in, while honoring the man or woman on the other side. Above all we have to understand that every Mississippian – every American – is on the same team. We all want to be treated with grace. And we’re all made in the image of a perfect God. So, my goal is to act like it. 

For me, that means looking out for those who need extra help. It means being honest with people – admitting what I don’t know and working to be better. It means diligently working to make Mississippi an even more welcoming, prosperous state. 

I’m incredibly lucky that I’m not in it alone. None of us are. We’re surrounded by a legion of fellow Mississippians. People who care about you. People who want you to succeed, because they know we will all rise together. If we can just harness that, we can accomplish anything. 

I know that our state has what it takes to be exceptional. And I know that with God’s continued providence and our unconquerable spirit, together, we can get there. 

May God bless you, and may God bless Mississippi.

The post Gov. Tate Reeves’ full 2021 State of the State address appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Dr. Thomas Dobbs, the state’s health officer, cautioned Mississippians that receiving COVID-19 vaccines will “take a little bit of time.”

“It’s unpredictable and limited,” Dobbs said of the vaccine supply in a Jan. 22 video interview with LouAnn Woodward, vice chancellor at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. “We have a sense that we will probably get a steady trickle of vaccine. It’s probably like .1% of the population every week right now at the current pace.

“We just found out yesterday what we’ll get for next week,” Dobbs continued. “All these clinics we have scheduled, we schedule them based on anticipated inventory. But we never know for sure.”

READ MORE: How to get a COVID-19 vaccine in Mississippi and other frequently asked questions.

As of Jan. 26, at least 175,417 Mississippians – about 6% of the state’s population – have received a first dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Mississippi State Department of Health’s database. On the same day, 18,012 Mississippians had received the second dose. Officials have said more Mississippians have likely received the vaccine than is reflected in the database because of reporting lags.

The state’s number of vaccines administered has increased every week since the first vaccine shipments arrived in Mississippi in mid-December. Last week, 62,000 vaccine doses were administered.

Many Mississippians have expressed frustration in recent weeks with slow vaccine rollout. Some have reported having to drive more than three hours to receive a vaccine in one of the state’s drive-thru sites. Others say they are eligible to receive the vaccine but cannot secure an appointment quickly enough before they are booked.

But the state’s health officials say their hands are largely tied as they await vaccine shipments from the federal government.

“It’s not that anybody isn’t doing their part, it’s just that we don’t know what’s coming from week to week until very long into it. It’s hard to plan,” Woodward said.

The federal government – the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) – oversees a centralized system to order, distribute and track COVID-19 vaccines. All vaccines are ordered through the CDC.

The Mississippi State Department of Health, which Dobbs oversees, works directly with the CDC to manage the state’s COVID-19 vaccine distribution, sending vaccine to private providers and hospitals throughout the state. The CDC typically gives less than a week’s notice when informing the state how many doses they’ll receive for the next week.

“It’s super challenging for the clinics,” Dobbs said. “I’ve spent hours on the phone with frustrated folks because they need to say, ‘I want to schedule these, how much can I get?’ That’s a perfectly legitimate question, and I understand their frustration better than anyone… I think it’s going to get better going forward.”

Dobbs said that infighting between the HHS and the CDC has affected vaccine rollout.

“I really hope as we go forward that the federal government can cooperate internally,” Dobbs said. “We’ve seen constant struggle between HHS and CDC. It’s like having two parents bickering. We need unity, stability, a good strategic vision. That’s the foundational thing.”

Dobbs has highlighted racial and geographic disparities in vaccine rollout in Mississippi. As of Jan. 26, just 16% of vaccines administered in Mississippi were given to Black Mississippians, who make up 38% of the state’s population.

“Health equity and (the racial disparities) are at the top of our list as we’re going through our next phases of this vaccine plan,” Dobbs said. “We have to remember health equity.”

The post ‘Unpredictable and limited’: Dobbs urges patience with COVID-19 vaccine distribution appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The Mississippi Legislature, trying to limit the potential spread of the coronavirus, will meet in what is expected to be a pared down joint session Tuesday afternoon for Gov. Tate Reeves to deliver the annual State of the State speech.

The speech is scheduled to be delivered on the south steps of the state Capitol, but will be moved to the House chamber if there is inclement weather.

Both presiding officers, Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, will be on hand to officiate as well as the House and Senate committee (three from each chamber) to escort the governor to the joint session.

But the State of the State, in the COVID-19 environment, is expected to take place without the pomp and circumstance that normally surrounds the event.

Gunn said on Monday that he knows scant details about the governor’s State of the State address plans.

“I’m told that I need to show up, bang the gavel and introduce the bugler – it is my understanding there will be a bugler,” Gunn said. “I don’t know who all is coming to it … It’s really up to them, the governor’s office, on how they are going to do it.”

“The governor has requested no audience,” Hosemann said.

On Monday afternoon, the Senate approved the House resolution, passed Friday, authorizing the joint session.

The state Constitution simply instructs the governor “from time to time” to provide information to the Legislature on “the state of the government and recommend for consideration such measurers so may be deemed necessary and expedient.” That constitutional mandate has become the more elaborate State of the State speech that is attended by various representatives of state government, not only from the legislative but also from the judicial and executive branches.

Gunn on Monday gaveled the House to order – via Zoom – and presided over a mostly empty chamber. Only two lawmakers, the speaker pro tempore and Rules Committee chairman were present in the chamber that normally holds a boisterous crowd of 122 lawmakers. Beforehand, about 15 lawmakers were in the chamber, but Gunn asked them to leave before gaveling in.

“My request last week was that no one be in the chamber,” Gunn told the handful of legislators who were at their desks. “Obviously, if we let one of you come in here, we’ll have to let all, and then we will lose our social distancing … We are attempting to comply with the request made by Dr. Dobbs (the state health officer).”

Gunn noted after he gaveled out the brief Zoom session that it was strange looking over a mostly empty chamber.

“It was mighty quiet in here, wasn’t it?” Gunn said.

As an aside to the couple of staff present after he closed Monday’s session, he said, “That seemed to go well enough – maybe we need to conduct all our business that way.”

House committee meetings on Monday were likewise held via Zoom, and broadcast on YouTube. Gunn said there were a few “glitches,” such as members not finding the meeting links sent to them, but “For our maiden voyage it was rather smooth.”

“I’ve not heard any word that business was not able to be conducted in the committees,” Gunn said.

But some lawmakers are still questioning the new pandemic protocols and whether business is being properly and fairly conducted.

“With us bypassing all the initial phases of the process – yes I have some concern,” said Rep. Charles Young Jr., D-Meridian. “You don’t have the option of being able to oppose any of the process like you normally would … I think we should have made more accommodations to uphold our process. You can’t just kill the process, but that’s what we are doing.”

The Senate also is conducting committee meetings via Zoom, but members are not being barred from participating in person when the chamber is in full session or when in committee.

Reeves speech will be carried live on multiple outlets, including WMPN public television and via the airwaves and internet by WJTV television in Jackson.

The post Pared down State of State with limited audience set for Tuesday appeared first on Mississippi Today.

READ: Pared down State of State with limited audience set for Tuesday

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In his final week in Jackson, Gerald Harris, a political reporter at WJTV, talks with Mississippi Today Editor-in-Chief Adam Ganucheau about covering state politics and why journalism in Mississippi is important as ever.

Listen here:

The post Gerald Harris, a pillar of the Mississippi press corps, discusses covering state politics appeared first on Mississippi Today.

READ: Lawmakers will work via internet as COVID-19 spreads at the Capitol

The post Marshall Ramsey: Virtual appeared first on Mississippi Today.

As Mississippi legislators grapple with how much and whether they can afford to provide a pay raise to teachers during the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, what occurred in 2000 might be of interest.

Lawmakers that year passed the state’s largest teacher pay increase: a $337 million proposal that was enacted over a six-year period. That pay raise is equivalent to $523.9 million in today’s dollars.

There are some similarities between what happened then and what is going on now.

In the 1999 gubernatorial election, then-Lt. Gov. Ronnie Musgrove campaigned on moving the pay for Mississippi teachers to the Southeastern average. During the 2019 gubernatorial election, both candidates — Democrat Jim Hood and Republican Tate Reeves — promised large pay raises for teachers.

About a month before the November 2019 general election, Reeves, the eventual winner, proposed raising teacher pay $4,300 over a four-year period, costing, he said at the time, a total of $225 million — far less than the 2000 plan, but still a lofty goal.

In 2000, like now, there were events beyond the control of Mississippi’s politicians making it difficult for them to commit to spending such a large amount of money.

Currently, of course, that event is the COVID-19 pandemic. The pay raise that was planned for the year after the 2019 election was scrapped at the onset of the pandemic because of fears over how the coronavirus would impact the Mississippi economy and revenue collections for state government. Legislators are considering a pay raise again this session.

But there also were economic headwinds in 2000. Granted, there was no event nearly as significant or deadly as the pandemic, but there was a sizable recession that might have impacted Mississippi more than any other state. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the exodus of low paying jobs from America to other countries reached a crescendo. Mississippi had more of those jobs per capita than any state in the nation.

The Mississippi economy tanked. Fiscal year 2001 was the first in the state’s modern history where revenue collections were less for that year than the previous year.

At least in part because of the bad economy, legislative leaders in 2000 said the state could not afford a teacher pay raise — especially such a large one. Despite that headwind, Musgrove continued to lobby for the pay raise, though it looked that with both House Speaker Tim Ford and Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck being in opposition, his primary campaign promise would go unfulfilled.

But then some good, old-fashioned legislative distrust raised its head helping to build momentum. When asked about the pay raise one day, then influential House Ways and Means Chair Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, said, “To quote Snuffy Smith, time’s a wastin’.” McCoy’s comments were printed over that weekend as being supportive of passing the raise that session.

On that Monday, Senate leaders, knowing McCoy was one of Ford’s key allies, feared that their House counterparts were poised to announce a plan for a pay raise. The Senate leaders, not wanting to be viewed as the only obstacle to the pay raise, called a hastily organized news conference to announce a pay raise plan of their own.

That plan, proposed by Lt. Gov. Tuck, was the one that finally passed. But the numbers were similar enough to what Musgrove had proposed that everyone could claim victory.

As a sidenote, the Senate plan had language saying the salary increase would not go into effect any year where revenue collections did not grow by at least 5%.

While Musgrove opposed the revenue trigger, he feared that fighting it might result in the death of the legislation. Instead, he signed the legislation and later that summer called a special session where he was successful in convincing legislators to remove the trigger.

Musgrove, though, was not serving as governor when most of the pay raise went into effect. Because of the state’s dire economic situation, the pay raise was backloaded with the bulk of it going into effect in the last years of the multi-year commitment.

By that time, Musgrove had lost re-election to Haley Barbour. While revenue collections continued to be tepid when Barbour took office, he never tried to pass legislation that would allow the state to back out of the commitment to teachers, though the pay raise placed a tremendous strain on the state budget.

The point is that there were politicians of both parties at the time who believed it was a commitment worth keeping.

But by the time the pay raise was fully enacted, other states had also increased the salaries for teachers, meaning that Southeastern average still was not reached. Still, the record pay raise put Mississippi teachers closer to that elusive Southeastern average.

The post Lawmakers could take lessons from the historic teacher pay raise of 2000 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Under the COVID-19 safety protocols being put in place for the coming weeks, members of the Mississippi House can participate in the legislative process from the comfort of their homes.

On the Senate side, members also can participate via the internet – through Zoom – but at some point each day they must come to the Capitol if they want to be paid.

Both chambers have reported positive COVID tests in recent days – at least two in the Senate and one the House. Legislative leaders are trying to prevent what happened last summer while in session where 49 members tested positive, as did multiple staff members and lobbyists.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, has proposed recessing the session until later in the year to provide time for more COVID-19 vaccines to be administered. House Speaker Philip Gunn has rejected that proposal. Instead, the House leadership has developed a unique plan where members can log into Zoom to participate not only when the Legislature is in full session, but also when they are in committee meetings.

When House members log in for the full session, they are counted as present and thus receive the $151 per diem that legislators receive during the legislative session.

“We are not going to meet on the floor – we are going to do it by Zoom,” Gunn said. “That was our idea. I told Delbert (Wednesday) night that we were planning to do that. We talked with legal staff to make sure we could do that. They said, yes that’s fine. Then we talked with the IT people to make sure it could be done, and they said yes, in fact, he’s already got it set up to go.

“What we’re doing is, a chairman will be in (a committee room) by himself on a computer,” Gunn added. “All the members will attend by Zoom, and they’ll have the ability to ask questions and offer amendments and debate and do all the normal stuff.”

On Friday the House passed legislation that changes the section of House rules which state there must be a quorum (at least half the members) present to conduct business to say participating online will count toward the quorum until March 1.

In the Senate, the plan also is for committee meetings to be online for senators to participate, but to receive per diem they must check in at the Capitol at some point during the day.

Senate leaders are basing that decision on a section of state law saying the per diem pay is based on “actual attendance at a session.” The Constitution, which is more vague, simply says, “a majority of each house shall constitute a quorum to do business.”

Gunn said the Legislature is at a point in the session making it easier to conduct business online. The Legislature will meet primarily in committees until Feb. 2, passing out bills to be considered before the full chambers. The two chambers’ time in full session during this period of the legislative process is normally brief.

After the committee work is complete, Gunn said it will not be as easy to meet remotely when legislators are in full session for long periods daily to take up and vote on bills. Gunn said at that point other safety precautions will be taken to socially distance in the Capitol.

But with proper safety precautions, Gunn said he sees no need to delay the session.

Referring to the Senate’s call to recess the session, he said, “What they need to do is take a vote… They’ve been talking about it and talking about it, and they need to vote on something and send it to me. It’s a two-thirds vote. If they feel strongly about it, let them take a vote – do they have two thirds that agree on anything?  Until then it’s an academic discussion.”

But many members of the Senate see the situation differently. Sen. Derrick Simmons of Greenville, the Senate Democratic leader, said he agrees with Hosemann that the session should be delayed.

“It is more valuable when we fully participate in the process by being here,” Simmons said. “Anytime we change the way we do our work we are not effectively representing our people.”

 But not every member of the Senate seemed enamored with taking a break. Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula, pointed out members had committed to leases in Jackson for the planned three-month session and a delay would mean they could lose that money as well as incur other expenses when they came back later in the year.

“Will we be compensated for having to incur the extra days and cover the things that go along with that?” Wiggins asked. “I think everyone knows that we are citizen legislators. People have jobs. People have things like that and accommodations must be made.”

Wiggins said it would be better to take safety precautions and remain in session.

Legislators receive $10,000 salary for the session and the per diem plus mileage. In addition, legislators receive $1,500 monthly out of session. The $10,000 salary is not prorated based on how many days the members are in session.

Also on Friday, the House passed a resolution to call for a joint session for Gov. Tate Reeves to deliver a State of the State speech at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 26, on the south steps of the Capitol. If there is inclement weather, the resolution calls for the joint session to be held in the House chamber where presumably many members would watch via the internet.

The House’s State of the State resolution most likely will be taken up Monday by senators who could change it.

Members of the public should be able to watch most committee meetings online through a YouTube channel that can be accessed here.

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