Saying he still has concerns about it — and would have written it differently — Gov. Tate Reeves signed the Mississippi Medical Cannabis Act into law Wednesday afternoon ahead of a midnight deadline.
In a long Facebook post Wednesday, Reeves said he “committed to supporting the will of the people” who had passed a medical marijuana referendum only to have it overturned by the state Supreme Court. But he still doesn’t like it and has concerns it could lead to increased recreational marijuana use “and less people working.”
“I have made it clear that the bill on my desk is not the one that I would have written,” Reeves wrote. “But it is a fact that the legislators who wrote the final version of the bill (the 45th or 46th draft) made significant improvements to get us towards accomplishing the ultimate goal.”
Reeves said his goal “from day one (post Supreme Court ruling)” has been to help create a medical marijuana program and to “do everything in my power to minimize and mitigate — though knowing it is impossible to eliminate” recreational use.
Reeves listed “improvements we fought to include in the final version of this bill,” including reducing the amount of marijuana patients can get, regulations about doctors who certify patients and preventing dispensaries “within fewer than 1,000 feet of churches and schools.” He said he garnered “many other small (improvements) that I’m not mentioning” in the final bill he signed.
“I thank all of the legislators for their efforts on these improvements and all of their hard work,” Reeves wrote. “I am most grateful to all of you: Mississippians who made your voice heard. Now, hopefully, we can put this issue behind us and move on to other pressing matters facing our state.”
Reeves at one point during legislative negotiations on a medical marijuana program had threatened to veto it, saying it would allow patients to have too much marijuana. But lawmakers first reduced the amount from 4 ounces a month to 3.5 ounces a month, then down to 3 ounces before passing Senate Bill 2095 on to Reeves with overwhelming votes in both the House and Senate.
With the midnight Wednesday deadline approaching for Reeves to sign, veto or let the bill pass into law without his signature, Reeves had refused to say what he would do, even to legislative leaders.
But the House and Senate had passed the measure by overwhelming votes which, if they held, could have overridden a Reeves veto.
The effort for Mississippi to join a majority of other states that have legalized medical — if not recreational — marijuana has been long and contentious. For years, legislative efforts in this conservative Bible Belt state fizzled, despite growing support among the citizenry.
In 2020, voters took matters in hand and passed Initiative 65, creating a medical marijuana program and enshrining it in the state constitution. But the Supreme Court on a constitutional technicality in May 2021 shot down the initiative, and even the process by which voters could pass initiatives.
Promising to heed the will of the voters, lawmakers worked over the summer to draft a medical marijuana bill.
Reeves, who opposed Initiative 65, vowed also to heed the will of voters and call lawmakers into special session once they reached an agreement on a measure. They did so in September, but Reeves didn’t like the agreement and refused to call a special session. Among other complaints, he said the 4 ounces a month of marijuana it allowed patients to buy was too much, despite it being less than the 5 ounces voters approved with Initiative 65.
Lawmakers said they acquiesced to most of Reeves’ demands with the final version of the bill they passed Jan. 26.
The bill calls for the state Department of Health to begin accepting applications, registering and licensing ID cards and practitioners within 120 days. After 120 days, the department is required to begin licensing and registering cannabis cultivation facilities, processing facilities, testing facilities, research facilities, disposal and transport operations.
After 150 days, the Department of Revenue is supposed to begin licensing and registering dispensaries, within 30 days of receiving applications, or within 30 days after the initial 150 days, whichever is the later date.
The law requires all medical cannabis used in Mississippi to be grown and processed in state, so the earliest availability of it to patients is still months away, likely late this year.
The law allows people to receive medical marijuana for more than two dozen “debilitating conditions.” These include cancer, epilepsy, Parkinson’s disease, Huntington’s disease, muscular dystrophy, multiple sclerosis, PTSD, HIV/AIDS, Crohn’s disease, sickle cell anemia and Alzheimer’s disease. It also allows it as treatment for chronic, debilitating pain. Conditions can be added to the list only by the Department of Health, not doctors.
Brittany Murphree was born and raised in Rankin County, Mississippi, one of the most Republican counties in one of the most Republican states.
She went to Northwest Rankin High School where she was the president of the school’s chapter of Teenage Republicans of Mississippi. She interned for Republican Gov. Phil Bryant, and her parents voted for Donald Trump twice (she did too, one time). At the University of Mississippi Law School, where Murphree is now in her second year, her friends are mostly conservative white people.
Brittany Murphree takes a Critical Race Theory course at Ole Miss, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
In early January, Murphree shocked them all when she announced that one of the courses she was taking this semester was “Law 743: Critical Race Theory.”
“Why would you take that class?” her dad vented on the phone. “It’s the most ridiculous concept.”
“Brittany, that class is just gonna make you feel so guilty about being white,”some of her classmates warned.
“You’re gonna get canceled.”
Their tone was teasing, but Murphree thought they sounded genuinely worried. She understood why. Critical race theory had become a flashpoint of national politics in 2021 as conservative media latched onto the term, deeming it “hostile, academic, divisive, race-obsessed, poisonous, elitist, anti-American.” In speeches, both House Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves had vowed to ban the theory from being taught in schools. Murphree didn’t know much about critical race theory, but she knew some people in Mississippi thought it was taboo.
Still, Murphree wanted to know what the “hotly debated topic” was really about. “Law 743: Critical Race Theory” is the only law class in Mississippi solely dedicated to teaching the high-level legal framework. To Murphree, the class seemed like an opportunity — one she might not get again.
“I’m either gonna completely agree with this, or I’m gonna be able to say, ‘No, this class is terrible,’” she told her friends. “The best way to have an opinion about this class is literally to take it.”
“Critical Race Theory: Law 743” is an unusual course at the University of Mississippi Law School, where most classes teach students about the law or how to argue like lawyers. What makes Law 743 unique is that it teaches a bird’s eye view of the legal system, a framework for understanding the law and its impact on racial minorities. Law 743 is also more diverse than many classes at UM’s law school. In the 13-person class, Murphree is one of four white students.
Out of all her courses this semester, Murphree was the most anxious to see what Law 743 would be like. On the first day, the professor, Yvette Butler, issued a disclaimer that Murphree took to heart. Critical race theory, Butler said, examines difficult and potentially upsetting topics, but it was important that the class remain a safe, respectful space. Students were going to disagree with the readings and with each other; when they did, Butler asked them to give each other “radical acceptance.”
When Murphree started her readings later that day, she pushed herself to keep an open mind. One of her first assignments was a 1976 article by a professor at Harvard Law School named Derrick Bell, who is often credited as the founder of critical race theory.
In the article, titled “Serving Two Masters,” Bell lays the groundwork for one of his most notable arguments: By and large, school desegregation was a failure. Brown v. Board of Education, he argues, was in many ways harmful to Black communities across the country. As Black schools closed, Black teachers, principals, bus drivers and custodians lost their jobs. Bussed to white schools, Black children were more likely to be beaten, arrested, and expelled than their white peers. As a lawyer for the NAACP, Bell had sued for desegregation; in “Serving Two Masters,” he was wondering if that was the right tactic after all.
Murphree found the article astonishing. She had thought critical race theory was focused on critiquing the actions of white people, not scrutinizing the decisions and tactics of Black civil rights attorneys. She found her other readings just as surprising. Lawmakers were wrong to call critical race theory “Marxist,” she learned, because the framework was actually a rejection of legal theories that had centered class and sidelined race.
She was excited by what she was learning, and she wanted to share it with her peers. That Wednesday night, at a law school mixer at a bar near the Square, she started chatting with her conservative classmates about how the readings weren’t like anything she’d thought.
“Am I gonna regret talking to you about this?” a classmate joked.
During the second day of class on Thursday, Butler asked students to evaluate Bell’s argument in “Serving Two Masters.” On a PowerPoint slide, Butler wrote: “How does Bell characterize the Brown decision? Do you agree with his characterization?”
Teresa Jones, a second year law student in the class, raised her hand. While she understood Bell’s argument, Jones said her life experience gave her a different perspective. She had grown up in a Black working class family in unincorporated Sharkey County in the Mississippi Delta. Her mom worked the trim table at the catfish farm, and her dad was a military veteran and an HVAC technician.When they were young, there was just one high school in Sharkey County, and it had been the school for white children.
Brown wasn’t as harmful to the Black community in rural Mississippi as segregation had been, Jones said. If anything, Brown was the only reason her family had a school to go to at all.
“There were people who weren’t going to school at all before desegregation, like literally going to school in a church,” Jones said, “and that was only part of the time because they had to go chop cotton.”
The goal of the class is not to change minds, but to introduce students to critical race theory and how to apply it to the law, current events and issues in popular discourse, Murphree said. To that end, the class has talked about racism and how to define it, the idea of color-blindness, and the difference between equity and equality. They also learned about “interest convergence,” a core tenet of critical race theory that argues communities of color only achieve progress when white communities also benefit. Interest convergence, Jones said, helped her better understand why the Mississippi Legislature voted to change the state flag in 2020 — because “they were about to lose a lot of money with the NCAA.”
The longer class was in session, the more Murphree felt like everyone was opening up and saying what they really thought. Before class ended on Thursday, one of Murphree’s white classmates asked what was the better term: “Black” or “African American”?
Murphree was initially unsure. “Are we about to disagree on this?” Murphree thought. “Are they gonna be offended that she just asked that?”
Butler, the professor, asked the Black students in the class to each say what they preferred. Jones didn’t think much of the conversation; she had already thought about why she preferred to call herself “Black” years ago in undergrad. But for Murphree, the discussion was enlightening. Another Black student in the class pointed out something she had never before considered: “We don’t call you white Americans.”
Teresa Jones (left) and Britanny Murphree, on the south steps of the Khayat Law Center, discussing points of view regarding the the Critical Race Theory course both take at Ole Miss, Thursday, Jan. 27, 2022. Credit: Vickie D. King/Mississippi Today
On Friday, Jan. 21, Murphree was about to start her homework when news broke that the national debate over critical race theory had finally come to Mississippi. The Senate had passed Senate Bill 2113, one of several bills this session that aimed to ban discussion of critical race theory in K-12 schools and universities.
Murphree read the bill in disbelief. “The party I associate with,” she concluded, “just doesn’t even know what the truth about this class is.”
The more Murphree thought about the bill, the angrier she got. In just two weeks of taking Law 743, she had been introduced to ideas she never before considered. She learned there were activists and academics who were critical of school integration and the way it had been enforced. She gained a new perspective on racial progress in America. And she still had a whole semester left of issues that no longer felt intimidating but urgent to learn — implicit bias in policing, affirmative action, and reparations.
“Why are they so fearful of people just theorizing and just thinking,” she thought. “We’re not going to turn into, like, communists. Y’all chill out.”
That Sunday, Murphree watched the footageof the Senate vote to pass SB 2113. As every Black senator in Mississippi walked out of the chamber in protest, Murphree decided that she, too, would take a radical step, one she knew would likely end her dream of working in local Republican politics.She opened up a Microsoft Word document and started writing.
“To date, this course has been the most impactful and enlightening course I have taken throughout my entire undergraduate career and graduate education at the State of Mississippi’s flagship university,” she began.
“The prohibition of courses and teachings such as these is taking away the opportunity for people from every background and race to come together and discuss very important topics which would otherwise go undiscussed.
I believe this bill not only undermines the values of the hospitality state but declares that Mississippians are structured in hate and rooted in a great deal of ignorance.”
She asked a friend who works in the state Capitol to read it over. Then she addressed the letter to all 27 members of the Mississippi House Education Committee, attached it to an email, and hit send.
As written, SB 2113 is vague enough that Law 743 could likely still be taught. The bill, authored by Sen. Michael McLendon, R-Hernando, would prohibit schools from compelling “students to personally affirm, adopt, or adhere … that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion or national origin is inherently superior or inferior.”
That’s not happening in Law 743, or in any public schools in Mississippi.
“Nobody is saying, ‘Dear white child, you are inherently superior to dear Black child,’” Jones said. “No one is saying that. If anything, that is something we’re trying to deconstruct.”
Murphree hasn’t heard back from any of the lawmakers she sent the letter to, but what happens next to SB 2113 is now up to the House, which has until March 1 to take up the bill. Though several more detailed and far-reaching House bills died in committee, representatives could try to make SB 2113 stricter.
If the Legislature successfully banned critical race theory, Jones said it would be a detriment to the academic environment at UM’s law school. The class has helped her understand her own opinions better and argue for them more effectively — what law school is supposed to be about.
“There are some things in critical race theory that I disagree with and (Professor Butler) said, ‘Well that’s OK, it’s a good thing actually,’” Jones said. “We should be discussing these things and saying I agree with this, I don’t agree with this. That’s OK, that’s what open discussion is about.”
Murphree said it has been frustrating to see fellow conservatives twist critical race theory into something it is not. But she also gets why they might be afraid of thinking about the issues at the heart of the theory. They don’t want to feel “white guilt,” especially not in Mississippi where many white people can easily trace their lineage to slave-owners.
“Here in the Bible Belt, people ride on the fact that they’re a good person, they go to church on Sunday, they give money to the poor, so they could never imagine being called a racist,” she said.
But the younger generation in Mississippi is more perceptive than conservatives tend to give them credit for, Murphree said. Children will always be able to see how racism organizes society, even if their teachers are banned from talking about it. Murphree grew up seeing it; critical race theory just gave her a way to talk about it.
At Northwest Rankin High, “I could just look around and see people in my class, and I could see the racial divide and how people literally said the n-word,” Murphree said. “Nobody had to teach me things. I saw it in my life.”
A bill pending in the state Senate would provide a $2-to-$1 match for Mississippi welfare recipients to help them create savings accounts.
“Of the 100 most un-banked communities in the country, 17 are in Mississippi,” said Sen. John Horhn, D-Jackson, co-author of Senate Bill 2634 along with Sen. Chris Caughman, R-Mendenhall.
Horhn said the program, similar to ones being run by a majority of other states, would be funded up to about $1 million with federal Temporary Assistance for Needy Families money, with the goal of helping people get off welfare.
Horhn said it would help poor families create savings accounts, provide them with financial literacy training — which would be required for the program — and that the savings would not affect their eligibility for TANF benefits. He said it would only apply to people with net incomes of less than $10,000, and at most only about 3,700 people would qualify.
“I believe this is a wise use of resources and helping people with financial literacy and helping them to become financially stable,” Horhn said. “Forty other states are doing this, and they are seeing people being moved off the welfare rolls.”
But passage of the measure out of Senate committees brought philosophical and political debate. The bill was passed from committee with a “reverse repealer,” meaning it could not be passed into law without much more debate and changes.
“I appreciate what you’re trying to do here, but my concern is that this is a financial inducement from taxpayers’ money … federal money is still taxpayers’ money,” said Sen. Chris McDaniel, R-Ellisville. “The taxpayers are being taken advantage of twice with this program. No one is saying we shouldn’t be teaching financial literacy. But this takes dollars from taxpayers and redistributes it to other taxpayers.”
Hohrn countered that TANF “is a program with a cycle of dependency, and this is a program trying to end that cycle and provide financial independence.” Sen. David Parker, R-Olive Branch, also defended the bill as worth trying, and questioned whether those philosophically opposed to spending the tax dollars pick and choose when they stand by that philosophy.
Parker also noted that Mississippi has tens of millions of dollars in unspent TANF funds.
Mississippi’s welfare program has been rocked by scandal and state and federal criminal investigations and charges into millions of dollars allegedly misspent or stolen.
The proposed savings program would provide matching funds up to $2,000 for a qualified individual and $4,000 for a family. The program would include financial literacy training for beneficiaries, and they would be limited in how they could spend the savings to only large items such as college education, purchasing a home, or purchasing a vehicle for work.
The Cleveland boys discuss the departure of Saints coach Sean Payton, his legacy as a coach and what’s next for the franchise. Plus, NFC and AFC Championship talk — including Joe Burrow’s ties to Amory, Miss — and Ole Miss scores big in the transfer portal.
Feb. 1 was the deadline to pass general bills and constitutional resolutions out of committee in the chamber where they originated.
The death of a bill on Tuesday’s key deadline day does not necessarily mean the issue addressed in the bill is dead for the session. There may be another bill alive that could be amended to add an issue that was in a bill that died on the deadline day.
Bills that increase or reduce revenue and bills that make appropriations to state agencies were not impacted by Tuesday’s deadline.
Below is a list of key bills that either made or missed the Feb. 1 deadline. To search bills by number, click this link. To search bills by keyword, click this link.
Bills that are still alive as of Feb. 1
Senate Bill 2444 would increase teacher pay by years of experience and level of certification. It would raise pay an average of $4,700 over two years and restructure the way teachers are paid to provide them higher salaries in the long-term.
House Bill 530 would increase all teachers’ pay by $4,000 to $6,000 a year and boost starting teachers’ pay from $37,000 a year to $43,125, above both the Southeastern and national averages.
Senate Bill 2634 would provide matching money to help recipients of TANF benefits create savings accounts, and the savings would not affect their eligibility for TANF benefits. A majority of other states have such a program. Mississippi has millions in unspent Temporary Aid for Needy Family funds, and a majority of other states have a similar savings program. TANF funds would match private savings 2-1, up to a total of $4,000 in savings for a family. The program would include financial literacy training for beneficiaries, and they would be limited in how they could spend the savings to only large items such as college education, purchasing a home, or purchasing a vehicle for work.
Senate Bill 2113 supporters say it would prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in kindergarten through 12th grade schools and on the university level. State Department of Education officials have said critical race theory, which strives to explore the impact of racial discrimination on various aspects of society, is not being taught in the public schools. Some say the bill is so vague that it is not clear what the impact of the legislation would be.
House Concurrent Resolution 39 would restore the initiative process to allow citizens to gather signatures to bypass the Legislature and place issues on the ballot. The proposal would change the language that the Supreme Court ruled this past May invalidated the initiative process. The legislation would allow the initiative process to be used to change state law instead of the Constitution as the old process allows.
Senate Bill 2095, pending a governor’s signature, would allow chronically ill Mississippians to use medical cannabis. It would replace a program approved by voters in 2020, but shot down by the state Supreme Court on a technicality.
Senate Bill 2451 and House Bill 770 would prohibit Mississippi employers from paying people of different sexes different pay for the same work. Mississippi is now the only state in the nation without an equal pay law, after Alabama passed one in 2019.
House Bill 630 would ensure that people who had their felony convictions expunged would regain their voting rights. Numerous bills were filed to provide that people convicted of felonies would regain the right to vote at some point after completing their sentence, but those proposals did not survive the committee deadline. Mississippi is only state where people convicted of certain felonies must petition the Legislature to have their voting rights restored,
House Bill 769 would provide up to $225,000 grants to health care providers to help battle COVID-19.
House Bill 928 would provide grants to hospitals to expand facilities as needed to deal with COVID-19.
House Bill 1029 would provide grants to expand broadband access.
House Bill 1510 is a far-reaching bill that would give Secretary of State Michael Watson authority to audit election results and hire outside groups to assist with the effort. The bill also would provide a time frame to purge voter rolls and would require social media companies to file reports with the Secretary of State’s office detailing the reasons for restricting candidates and elected officials from their social media platform.
Senate Bill 2356, dubbed the Real You Act, would prohibit people convicted of crimes from changing their name while incarcerated and would require medical approval or other approval for a minor to legally change his or her sexual identity.
Senate Bill 2273 would allow employs of people convicted of crimes to provide reports to probation officers to prevent the need for the employee to leave work to report to a probation officer.
Senate Bill 2164 would create a stand alone Department of Tourism, instead of a division within the Mississippi Development Authority. It would also create the Mississippi Department of Tourism Fund and divert a portion of sales tax revenue collected from restaurants and hotels there instead of to MDA. It would create a 12-member marketing advisory board to assist the department.
Bills that died on Feb. 1
House Bill 108 is among the many bills filed that would have expanded Medicaid as is allowed under federal law to provide health care coverage for primarily the working poor. While the bills are dead, there might be other mechanism available in the legislative process to try to expand Medicaid, though, those efforts are not likely to be successful because of opposition from some legislative leaders.
House Concurrent Resolution 16 would have moved state elections, such as for governor, county offices and others, to presidential election years.
House Bill 377 would have restored voting rights to military veterans who were convicted of certain felonies.
House Bill 893 would have prohibited public officials from changing political parties during their term in office.
House Concurrent Resolution 19 would have imposed term limits on legislators.
House Bill 22 would have allowed no-excuse early voting.
House Bill 292 would have allowed online voter registration.
Senate Bill 2244 would make many people convicted to life in prison when they were under the age of 18 eligible for parole after 20 years.
House Bill 560 would make it easier for people convicted under the age of 21 to earn supervised release.
House Bill 1467 would have changed Mississippi’s hate crimes bill to add harsher penalties for violent attacks against people based on disabilities, sexual orientation or gender identity. This would bring state law in line with federal hate crimes laws. Advocates have pushed for this change for several years now to no avail, and the issue died in House committee without a vote.
Senate Bill 2695 would have required state financial aid to be based primarily on need.
Blacktop Ridge is a Southern Rock—Outlaw Country band formed out of Tupelo, Mississippi, heavily influenced by sounds like Blackberry Smoke, The Steel Woods, Cody Jinks, etc. We look to bring something new and different to Tupelo and the surrounding areas.
Band Members:
Jacob Henry – Vocals Troy Ellis – Guitar Noah Bridges – Guitar Blake Dees – Drums Joe McMullin – Bass
Hometown: Tupelo, MS
Artists We Also Like: Blackberry Smoke, Joe Walsh, Allman Brothers Band, Marshall Tucker Band, Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Collective Soul, Georgia Satellites, Lynyrd Skynyrd, ZZ Top.
Who or what would you say has been the greatest influence on your music?
Blackberry Smoke would be our biggest influence, with The Steel Woods following in close second.
Favorite song and the story behind it?
“Midnight Rider” — our version. We took the classic song and put a modern southern rock twist on it. We enjoy playing it so much that for the longest time, close friends and family thought that was the only song we could play.
If you could meet any artist, living or dead, which would you choose and why?
My personal choice would be Slash. I’m a guitarist and have always enjoyed his style. I’m sure the other band members have their own personal choices. We all hope to share the stage with Blackberry Smoke one day, though.
Most embarrassing thing ever to happen at a gig?
In a previous band, I had a singer completely blank out on “Hurts So Good.” I figured that’s a pretty classic song and watching him try to mumble through it was rough. We just had to cut that one short. We really haven’t had any embarrassing moments with Blacktop Ridge…yet…
What was the most significant thing to happen to you in the course of your music?
I’ve been playing guitar for about 10 years now with multiple bands/projects over that time. In all that time, none of those other projects got the recognition and praise that this one has received from just a few small shows/gigs.
I sometimes DJ on the side, and I was asked at a wedding we recently played to not even bother with the DJing — to just keep the band up there. That lets me know that we’re headed in the right direction and that I’m playing with the most talented group of people I’ve ever been around.
If music were not part of your life, what else would you prefer to be doing?
I couldn’t imagine music not being a part of my life. If I had to fall back on something though, I would probably just spend more time with my family. I have a beautiful wife and an 8 month old son, and we also have a little girl due in March.
Would you like to recommend another band or artist(s) to our readers who you feel deserves attention?
Physical therapist Charles “Butch” Slaughter helps Frances Champion with exercises at his clinic in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
A Jackson physical therapist challenging a state law and regulations preventing him from opening a home health care business will get his day in court, a federal judge ruled.
Charles “Butch” Slaughter has been a physical therapist in Mississippi for decades and has developed a niche for ankle and foot injuries. During the pandemic, patients were canceling their appointments to avoid potentially being exposed to COVID-19.
He decided then that he wanted to open a home health agency so he could take care of patients directly in their homes, and was excited about how he’d be able to better serve Jackson’s older population.
“As people get older, they have a tendency to fall and break hips,” Slaughter said. “And if we can prevent that in the beginning, then they won’t have those big bills. We can keep people at home and they don’t have to go to a nursing home. And most people don’t want to go if they don’t have to.”
But what Slaughter soon realized was there was a mountain of red tape to overcome before he could expand his business. A 40-year-old law bans the Mississippi Department of Health from issuing certificates of need (CON) to new home health agencies. There are only 50 CONs for these providers statewide, so Slaughter would have to buy one from an existing provider.
If he were to open a home health agency without a CON, he’d face misdemeanor charges and a fine of $500 per day.
Physical therapist Charles “Butch” Slaughter helps Frances Champion with exercises at his clinic in Jackson, Miss., Tuesday, Feb. 1, 2022. Credit: Eric Shelton/Mississippi Today
Even if the ban on new CONs wasn’t in place, Slaughter would likely face resistance from existing providers, who could argue in court that a new home health agency isn’t needed.
CON laws became widespread in the 1970s after The National Health Planning and Resources Development Act of 1974 required states to adopt CON programs to receive federal funding. The theory was that restricting the supply of health care providers would help lower costs.
The Mississippi legislature passed its CON law in 1979, and though Congress repealed the federal CON law in 1987, Mississippi’s is still on the books.
“These certificate of need laws are a relic of a failed experiment by the federal government to control health care costs that did not work,” Aaron Rice, director of the Mississippi Justice Institute and Slaughter’s attorney, said.
Rice says that though there are 50 home health agency CONs, he estimates there are only around a dozen or so providers in the state that are actually using them, as many are owned by subsidiaries of a larger organization.
In December 2020, Slaughter sued state health officials in federal court, arguing the ban on new CONs being issued, and the overall CON requirement for home health agencies, are unconstitutional.
Though he didn’t rule on the constitutional challenges, U.S. District Judge Carlton Reeves agreed Slaughter had a valid argument in his order denying the state’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.
“It is no secret that significant financial interests are at stake when it comes to CON laws … In practice, plaintiff alleges, current operators do exactly that: expand their offerings to absorb any purported ‘need,’ and eliminate the opportunity for any new competitors to enter the market,” Reeves wrote.
Numerous studies have shown that CON laws have not improved. One study published in 2020 found the laws increase health care costs and elderly mortality rates. A 2016 joint report from the Federal Trade Commission and the U.S. Department of Justice said the laws “can prevent the efficient functioning of health care markets,” for reasons including that they “limit consumer choice, and stifle innovation.”
Now, just over a year after Slaughter filed his lawsuit, he’s feeling energized going into the discovery phase of the suit, and is eager to make his arguments at trial.
“This gives us hope that we can bring this about and solve it so that not only I can open a home health agency but that other people can throughout the state … This is for the people of Mississippi.”
The state Senate on Tuesday unveiled its proposal to cut the state income tax, not eliminate it altogether as the House and governor propose.
It would also reduce the tax on groceries, provide a tax rebate up to $1,000 for 2022 and reduce the cost of car tags.
It also sets up a potential tax cut battle at the Capitol — with Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves pushing for elimination of the state income tax over time, although they have disagreed on particulars.
“This plan is simple, straightforward and sustainable — all the things you want addressed,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. “This addresses the inflation and cost of living increases hitting you at the grocery store and when you fill your gas tank, and it addresses teacher raises, infrastructure and health care needs we have as well.”
Gunn on Tuesday said he had not seen many details of the Senate plan, but said his support for eliminating, not just cutting, the income tax is firm. Gunn, the third-term speaker, has called his plan to eliminate the income tax the most important legislation of his political career.
“We are not interested in a token tax reduction that returns only a portion to our citizens without eliminating it,” Gunn said. “The governor has made similar statements. We will be coming forward soon with analysis showing the difference in the two plans. We still believe our plan is real, conservative tax relief.”
Unlike the House plan, the Senate income tax cuts would not be offset by an increase in sales or other taxes. Also unlike the House plan, the Senate plan would not require revenue growth “triggers” in order for the cuts to proceed.
The Senate’s $446 million tax cut proposal would:
Phase out the 4% state income tax bracket over four years. This, coupled with elimination of the 3% tax bracket effective last year, would mean people would pay no state income tax on their first $26,600 of income. This would cost $185 million a year at the end of the four years of cuts.
Reduce the state grocery tax from 7% to 5%, starting in July. This would cost about $118 million a year based on current revenue.
Provide up to a 5% income tax rebate in 2022 for those who paid taxes. The rebates would range from $100 to $1,000 and would probably be paid late this year, around November, Senate leaders said. This would be a one-time cost of about $130 million.
Eliminate the state fee on car tags going into the general fund. This would be a small reduction, as most of the cost of a car tag in Mississippi is county level taxes and other fees, which would not be eliminated. This would cost about $13 million a year.
Senate Finance Chairman Josh Harkins, R-Flowood, announced the plan to the Senate Finance Committee on Tuesday and provided a white page with broad details. He said the full bill will be out soon. Harkins and other Senate leaders have worked on a tax cut plan since last year, after the Senate killed Gunn’s first attempt at an income tax elimination plan.
The House has already passed its income tax elimination plan on to the Senate. It includes cuts to the grocery tax and a 1.5-cents-on-the-dollar increase in the sales tax, which would bring the state sales tax to 8.5%. The plan would phase out the state income tax over a decade or so, depending on revenue growth.
The House plan has faced some criticism and skepticism from business and other leaders since Gunn introduced it last year, but he and other House leaders say they’ve tweaked it to address concerns. The sales tax increase was reduced from the original version, and other tax increases in the plan were eliminated.
“The House plan totally eliminates the income tax in a responsible way,” Gunn said. “It is our desire to put more money back into the pockets of our citizens. We have an opportunity right now like we’ve never had before and probably never will again to do this.”
Harkins told Finance Committee members the Senate tax plan is “aggressive,” but not foolhardy. He said the current state budget is flush with pandemic stimulus dollars that he called “cocaine from the federal government” that will dry up. He also noted lawmakers this session have already pledged hundreds of millions of dollars a year in new spending on things such as a large teacher pay raise.
“Mississippi has had a record year in terms of revenue, so it was imperative to me we develop a durable tax relief plan which returns taxpayer money to taxpayers without raising any rates,” Harkins said. “The most important thing we can do as conservatives is get this right — and this plan allows for a substantial cut while still balancing the budget.”
Reeves spokeswoman Bailey Martin in a statement on Tuesday said: “Governor Reeves is grateful for the Senate’s interest in cutting taxes on Mississippians. He looks forward to reviewing their plan and continues to believe the legislature should act boldly this session to transform our tax system by eliminating the income tax.”
While Reeves in the past criticized Gunn’s plan as a “tax swap” because it increases sales taxes to offset elimination of the income tax, more recently he has praised Gunn and the House leadership for their efforts.
Fellow Republican Hosemann noted the Senate income tax cut plan is based on tax cuts then-Lt. Gov. Reeves and Gunn championed in 2016, which phased out the state’s 3% income tax bracket and continues to phase out the corporate franchise tax.
Hosemann said he and the Senate leadership plan to “enthusiastically” support their plan and he and Harkins both declined comment or analysis of the House plan.
Nearly a year after Amtrak first petitioned to run a passenger route through the Gulf Coast, the federal body that will decide the train’s future is holding a public meeting.
The Surface Transportation Board, which is based in Washington, D.C., announced it will host a public hearing on Feb. 15 about the proposed route that would run between New Orleans and Mobile with stops in Mississippi. The meeting, which will be hosted on Zoom and then posted to YouTube, will allow for public comments.
On March 9, the board will hold an evidence hearing over the railway dispute between Amtrak and the private companies that own and use the tracks. That hearing could be continued into the following day but will eventually result in the board making a decision on whether Amtrak will once again run along the Coast.
In March 2021, Amtrak filed a petition to access the railway tracks along the Gulf Coast. Those tracks are owned primarily by CSX, a freight company. Amtrak has been at odds with private industry over use of the tracks for years.
Amtrak had hoped to start running the passenger route by Jan. 1, 2022.
CSX has maintained more research on the capacity of tracks is needed before they are shared with Amtrak for public use.
If the board makes a decision in favor of Amtrak, the new route would have four stops in Mississippi: Bay St. Louis, Gulfport, Biloxi and Pascagoula. It would stretch over 200 miles from start to finish and have two trains running both ways — once in the morning and once in the evening.
