As you’ve seen, Mississippi Today has been celebrating our 6th anniversary by taking a look back through the years at our top stories. Today, I want to share some stories from 2020 that exemplify how Mississippi Today helps get you answers while covering big issues.
I think that year will be ingrained in all of our memories for a long time to come. It was the year that the COVID-19 pandemic began, and many of our lives have changed tremendously since then. One of our top stories at the beginning of the pandemic was about the saddening death of a Mississippi teacher during the first week of school. Many people had various questions during that uncertain time — do we wear masks even around family? Do we sanitize everything? When and how long do we quarantine? When will toilet paper be back in stock?
The great folks at Mississippi Today decided that a small part of helping our readers would be to provide continued coverage of COVID-19, from tracking the data and sending out text alerts to creating a comprehensive vaccine guide in the next year. Our coverage of the COVID-19 pandemic was completely fueled by providing our readers with comprehensive information from a source they could trust.
Another huge story in 2020 was the breaking news of Mississippi’s former welfare agency head being arrested for embezzling millions of dollars intended to help poor Mississippians. Our welfare coverage by our investigative reporter Anna Wolfe continues, breaking down the complicated legal jargon and showing our readers how it affected those MDHS is intended to help.
Many of these stories are still being followed and covered to this day. That’s why our work is so important — the longer we are able to stick around, the longer we are able to continue our coverage of ongoing issues facing the state and holding public officials accountable.
To our current members: Thank you for taking a step towards change in our great state of Mississippi. I’m proud to have you as part of the Mississippi Today member community.
To our readers who are not yet members: Do you also think that a better Mississippi is possible through providing transparency in the media and holding officials accountable? Then, I encourage you to join our member community by creating a recurring donation today. Not only will you help us continue our mission in making our state a better place, but you’ll also help us reach our anniversary celebration goal of welcoming 60 new members.
Conferencing, the strange period of the legislative session, has begun — a time when rank-and-file members have little chance of influencing the process and especially the budgeting process.
As the budget conferencing process starts, legislators are sitting on an unprecedented revenue surplus of more than $2 billion, but most members will have little say in how those funds are spent.
Conferencing occurs when three members from each chamber — House members appointed by Speaker Philip Gunn and Senate members named by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann — meet to hammer out differences in legislation. The meetings normally occur behind closed doors.
When agreement is reached, the rank-and-file members from each chamber have the choice of:
Approving that compromise and sending it to Gov. Tate Reeves for his signature.
Sending it back for additional negotiations.
Killing the proposal.
During conferencing, rank-and-file members cannot offer amendments to the proposals like they can earlier in the session.
In addition, there is tremendous pressure for legislators to approve the compromise to keep the legislative train on the tracks. After all, the session is scheduled to end April 3, and sending a bill back for additional negotiations risks the possibility of delaying the end of the session.
Rank-and-file legislators, at least, have the option earlier in the process to have influence over most general proposals because they can offer amendments to the bills both in committee and on the floors of the House and Senate.
Those rank-and-file lawmakers, though, do not have unencumbered options to offer amendments to budget bills — the bills that fund state agencies and services. In reality, they have virtually no ability to exert influence over the budgeting process. Members gave up that right in 2012 when Republicans took over both chambers of the Legislature for the first time since the 1800s.
At that time, the legislative leaders — Speaker Gunn and then-Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who presided over the Senate and is now governor — pushed through rules changes that essentially thwarted any influence rank-and-file members had over budgeting, which is perhaps the most important duty legislators have.
The rules change approved by legislators in 2012 gave the two presiding officers more power — at least over the budgeting process — than perhaps any presiding officers in the state’s history.
The change prohibits members from offering amendments to appropriations bills unless they cite from what agency they are taking the money. If a member wants to provide additional money to the Department of Public Safety, for instance, to deal with the years-long backlog in performing autopsies, they must cite from which agency those additional funds are being taken.
And to make the process more complicated, the money must be taken from a budget bill that is before the chamber at that time.
It is important to understand that each chamber takes up and passes half of the more than 100 bills funding state agencies and commissions and then exchanges bills with the other chamber. The House will send their appropriations bills to the Senate and vice versa.
If a member of the House wants to increase funding for the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, for instance, to provide additional funds to the local school districts and desires to take funds from the Department of Transportation to do so, the member cannot if the Transportation bill is in the Senate at the time instead of the House.
The further lunacy of the rules change is especially evident this year, when the state has an unprecedented revenue surplus totaling about one-third of the entire state support budget of about $6 billion. The rules dictating the options the rank-and-file members have in influencing the budget process do not allow them to offer an amendment to take any of the historically large amount of surplus funds to add money to education, health care, law enforcement or to any other budget.
In essence, only the leadership — the presiding officers and the House and Senate Appropriations Committee chairs — have the authority to use those surplus funds.
Sure, rank-and-file members could flex their collective muscle and send appropriations bills back to conference for further negotiations and send a message that they want more of the surplus funds to go to education or to some other agency. But given the short time frame between when members vote on those compromise proposals and the scheduled end of the session, members generally have been unwilling to take such bold action.
The end result is that the session has entered a period where most rank-and-file members are just sitting around waiting to rubber stamp what the leadership puts before them. In 2012, the members gave the leadership that power by voting in the restrictive rules change.
And they have not tried to change the rule in recent years to regain the power they used to have.
House and Senate leaders reached agreement Saturday afternoon on a proposal that falls short of eliminating the income tax as Speaker Philip Gunn and Gov. Tate Reeves have demanded, but still provides the largest tax cut in state history.
While the plan does not eliminate the personal income tax as Gunn has tried to do for the past two years, he said the proposal was too good to pass up.
“This is the first step in income tax elimination, but it is a key first step,” said Gunn, adding he would continue to work for total elimination.
The plan would immediately eliminate the 4% tax bracket starting in 2023 at a cost of about $185 million to the state budget and then over the next three years step down the remaining tax bracket from 5% to 4%. Under the plan, Gunn said the first $18,000 for a single tax filer will be exempt from taxation and the first $36,000 for a married couple.
The overall cost of the program to the state budget will be about $525 million annually when fully enacted.
“This tax cut is the largest in Mississippi’s history. It is also responsible,” said Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate and has led the effort to prevent the complete elimination of the income tax this year. “Our constituents expect us to fund core government services in infrastructure, education, healthcare, and other areas. Our budget experts have assured us we can continue to do this and significantly ease the tax burden on hard-working Mississippians.”
House and Senate leaders have been at loggerheads about the scope of tax cuts during the 2022 legislative session. Gunn and his leadership team have been adamant that a plan should be passed during the ongoing session that is scheduled to end April 3 to phase out the state’s income tax that accounts for about one-third or nearly $2 billion in general fund revenue.
In recent days, Reeves has chimed in saying he would “do whatever it takes” to ensure that a plan is put in place this year to eliminate the income tax.
Against that backdrop and proclamations by Gunn and Reeves that the income tax elimination needed to be committed to this year, Saturday’s compromise came as a stunner.
“We have been talking about this for awhile,” said Senate Finance Chair Josh Harkins, R-Flowood. “It got to the point where there was a deadline.”
With an 8 p.m. Saturday deadline looming to reach agreement on a tax cut under the legislative rules, House and Senate negotiators announced a meeting Saturday afternoon where they unveiled the four-year plan to cut, but not eliminate the income tax.
The agreement does contain language saying it is the intent of legislators to look at the state’s revenue situation again by 2026 to see if additional tax cuts could be enacted.
House Ways and Means Chair Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, said if state tax collections continue to grow, legislators could opt to continue cuts in the income tax and that it could be completely eliminated in 10 to 12 years.
But if legislators take no action, the tax rate will remain at 4%.
Gunn said he anticipates the governor will sign the legislation and, like, him continue to work to eliminate the income tax. When the plan is fully phased in, Gunn said Mississippi will have the 5th lowest marginal rate of the 41 states with a personal income tax.
The House and Senate are expected to vote on the plan as early as Sunday afternoon.
When fully enacted in four years, the plan will provide savings of $417 annually for a single tax filer earning $40,000 and $834 for a married couple earning $80,000, Gunn said.
Harkins called the plan historic. Harkins and Hosemann have opposed efforts to eliminate the personal income tax this year, but proposed cuts.
While the state has experienced unprecedented revenue collections, they pointed out state Economist Corey Miller has said much of that growth has been spurred by $35 billion in federal COVID-19 federal relief funds. They have said they opposed completion elimination during a time of economic uncertainty caused by multiple factors, including supply chain issues, inflation and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Harkins said the issue of income tax elimination or additional cuts in the tax rate could be addressed in future years.
While leaders compromised on the tax cut plan, they still were working during the weekend to reach agreement on a state budget and the expenditure of $1.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funds.
Those federal funds are expected to be spent in multiple areas, including helping local governments with water and sewer needs and shoring up state agencies, such as the child foster care system, mental health facilities and prisons – all facing federal lawsuits or the possibility of federal lawsuits because of substandard conditions.
Because of those issues and other issues facing the state, such as the underfunding of education entities, some have argued that the state cannot afford a large tax cut despite the current revenue surplus.
Gunn said he is optimistic that the Legislature can pass a budget by Tuesday, clearing the way for the session to end on time by next weekend.
We’ve been taking a look back over the last few years of reporting at Mississippi Today in celebration of our 6th anniversary. I wanted to remind you of some popular stories you might remember from 2019 that show how Mississippi Today works to tell your story.
Our coverage of Olecia James not receiving the title of salutatorian at Cleveland Central High School went viral after publishing. James filed a lawsuit against the school district that claimed she was stripped of her salutatorian title due to negligence and skewed grading after East Side High School was merged with Cleveland Central. By not receiving her title, she lost her chance at a scholarship to Ole Miss.
Later in 2019, our photojournalist Eric Shelton captured a day-in-the-life of Kaitlyn Barton, a Clarksdale High School teacher. The result was an insightful look into the challenges teachers in the state face living on their salary. At that time, Barton worked a part-time job in addition to her full-time teaching job to make ends meet. We have been covering teacher pay during the current legislative session, where lawmakers have passed a historic pay raise for Mississippi teachers.
Why do these stories matter? They’re your stories. Our mission is to take the issues that matter to you and hold public officials accountable. Throughout our six years, we have told a lot of your stories, but the work is far from over.
To our current members: Your generous support allows us to continue this important work and for that, we thank you.
To our readers who are not yet members: Since we are a nonprofit, our newsroom relies on members and donors to help power our work. You can be a part of our passionate member community by creating a recurring donation today. To celebrate our 6th anniversary, our goal is to welcome 60 new members during our 6 days looking back at our top stories. Will you help us reach our goal?
Former President Bill Clinton will be among the speakers May 3 in a ceremony at the Two Mississippi Museums in Jackson honoring the lives of former Gov. William Winter and First Lady Elise Winter.
President Bill Clinton walks with former Mississippi governor William Winter into the Rose Garden of the White House in Washington, on March 22, 1995. Winter spoke before Clinton signed the Unfunded Mandate Reform Act of 1995. Credit: Dennis Cook, AP
Clinton’s tenure as Arkansas governor overlapped with Winter’s term as governor of Mississippi from 1980 until 84. And as president, Clinton appointed Winter to co-chair his Initiative on Race that dealt with the issue of racial reconciliation. The William Winter Institute of Racial Reconciliation, now the Alluvial Collective, also was created at the University of Mississippi.
Also speaking at the event sponsored by the Foundation for Mississippi History will be Reuben Anderson, the state’s first African American Supreme Court justice, and former Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour.
Winter died in December 2020 at the age of 97 and the former first lady died in July 2021 at the age of 95. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, there was no public service upon their deaths. The May event will be the first.
After his death, Mississippi Today posted a “homily” by Rob Lowry, the former pastor of Fondren Presbyterian Church in Jackson where the Winter’s were members, honoring the former governor and outlining what he would have said if there had been a service.
Lowry wrote, “Governor Winter was a kind of public servant almost entirely absent on the scene today. He led with a passion for justice and a compassion for his neighbor that was born not of selfish ambition but a sense of responsibility and a profound belief in the promise and possibility of a better tomorrow. Acutely aware of the advantages his hard work and education had earned, he set about to work for the betterment of his home state. That commitment to leave Mississippi better than he found it was the cornerstone of a public life that helped shape our state for half of one century and into the next.”
Winter steered the Education Reform Act of 1982 to passage in an improbable special legislative session right before Christmas, creating public kindergartens among other education changes.
Elise Winter also was active in public service, working with her husband on education issues as first lady and to improve the conditions at Parchman Penitentiary. She was active in Habitat for Humanity and on other issues.
William Winter was a long-time member of the state’s Archives and History Board and, along, with Anderson, who is a member, led the effort to develop the state’s Two Mississippi Museums – the museum of history and of civil rights. He also was critical in the decision of Myrlie Evers to donate to the state the papers of her and her late husband, Civil Rights leader Medgar Evers, who was assassinated outside his Jackson home in 1963.
During the administration of Barbour from 2004 until 2012, Winter and Anderson worked with the then-governor to garner state funding for the Two Mississippi Museums project that has received national praise.
“These museums stand at the intersection of William Winter’s greatest passions—history, education, and racial justice,” MDAH Director Katie Blount said, “Generations of young people will come here to experience the stories that have shaped our state and nation.”
Winter had a long career in politics, serving in multiple statewide offices, and he also served in the Legislature.
Mississippi Today is getting ready to celebrate our 6th anniversary this Monday. As the resident sports columnist, I report on the compelling stories of Mississippi athletics, an important part of our state’s culture. Mississippi has a fascinating history of producing many of the world’s greatest athletes. I strive to bring to our readers the stories of those sports heroes and the games they play by going behind the scenes to find the stories behind the stories.
One of my favorite stories back in 2018 did just that. About a month before that hair-raising Super Bowl featuring the Eagles and Patriots, I had the chance to speak with Larry Foles, native of Petal and father of that year’s Super Bowl Champion quarterback Nick Foles. I found a lot of Larry’s rags-to-riches story reflected in Nick’s. Like so many Mississippians, Larry emerged from humble beginnings and developed grit, determination and leadership skills his son seemingly took to heart and utilized for success on sports’ biggest stage.
Stories like this one are uniquely Mississippi and help show the rest of the world why Mississippians excel as they do in football, basketball, baseball and Olympic sports. It has been my life’s work to tell these stories. It never gets old.
To our current members: By donating to our newsroom, you are part of a large group of supporters dedicated to a better Mississippi. We thank you for being a part of our mission. Our work is not possible without you.
To our readers who are not yet members: As a nonprofit organization, we rely solely on the support from our members and generous donors. Your donation goes toward essential functions to keep our newsroom running. Quite literally, we would not exist without you. We hope you’ll consider joining our passionate member community by making a donation in celebration of our 6th anniversary.
Speaker Philip Gunn and House leaders on Friday — the day before lawmakers’ deadline to agree on broad strokes of a state budget — signed off on Gov. Tate Reeves’ latest proposal to eliminate Mississippi’s personal income tax.
“This makes six different proposals we have sent to the Senate to eliminate the income tax,” Gunn said Friday. “… We are collecting more money than we are spending from our citizens. We believe it’s time to give money back to our citizens.”
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, who presides over the Senate, said, “I’ve lost count of their plans. At one time they were raising (sales) taxes by 2.5%. Then they were raising them 1.5%. Then they weren’t raising taxes. Then we’re doing $100 million a year. Now we’re doing what the governor says … There is a reasonable way to go about this, cutting taxes … We don’t want to come back to taxpayers in two or three years and say, ‘Oops.’”
The long-running tax cut fight between the Republican House and Senate leadership dominated a joint meeting Friday to ratify an estimate of how much money lawmakers have to spend. They have a Saturday night deadline to agree on a state budget for the new fiscal year that starts July 1.
Gunn since last year has pushed to eliminate, not just cut, the state personal income tax even if it takes years to phase it out. Hosemann and his Senate leadership propose cuts to income and other taxes this year, but say it’s not prudent to eliminate one-third of the state’s revenue and upend tax structure during uncertain economic times.
“We’re in the Senate for eliminating all taxes,” Hosemann said. “… But I remember Jimmy Carter. I remember the ’70s and ’80s … 20% interest rates and recessions … We asked (the state economist) where we’ll be in two years. He doesn’t know. It’s clear to me, with all due respect, that nobody but God knows … He also acknowledged there’s a 35% chance of a recession. We need to get through the next three or four years and see where we are.
“… We have schools that need repair,” Hosemann said. “We have roads and bridges and water and sewer work that needs to be done.”
Gunn said the he and House leaders have tried to address all concerns about income tax elimination and sent over multiple proposals, last year and this year. He said the state economy is booming and government coffers are full, and he expects economic growth to continue.
“I’d like to bring up another number: zero,” Gunn said. “That’s the number of reasons left why we can’t do income tax elimination.”
Gunn said House leaders on Friday were sending yet another proposal — one proffered by Gov. Tate Reeves — to the Senate. It would cut the state’s marginal personal income tax rate from 5% to 3.5% in the coming year, then phase out the tax over the next seven years.
Reeves vowed: “We are going to eliminate the income tax in Mississippi.”
On Thursday, after Reeves announced his tax elimination proposal, Gunn had responded: “Here we are two days before deadline and we see the first proposal from the governor. My question is, where are his votes? The Senate has been resistant to any proposal.”
But on Friday, Gunn said lead House tax negotiators were drafting a proposal containing the governor’s plan, signing it and sending it to the Senate. On Wednesday, House leaders had signed and sent to the Senate a much scaled back proposal that would have eliminated the income tax over 18-20 years.
Hosemann, Gunn and the Joint Legislative Budget Committee met Friday, and after much debate and questioning the state economist whether the national and state economies are on shaky or solid ground, revised revenue estimates for the current state budget year ending in June and the coming one.
The committee raised the current fiscal year estimate from $5.9 billion to nearly $6.9 billion. For the coming budget year, the estimated was raised to $6.9 billion, up about $112 million from the previous estimate.
Gunn said next year’s estimate was low-balled, and the state will take in much more money.
Hosemann said, “I would have felt more comfortable with a little bit lower.”
Just two days before a key legislative deadline, Gov. Tate Reeves confidently stated that lawmakers would vote to eliminate the state income tax that generates about one-third of Mississippi’s general fund revenue.
Reeves, who has little legislative power during the regular session, stopped short of saying that he would call a special session or veto budget bills or other items if legislators do not send him an income tax elimination proposal. But those actions would be the governor’s primary leverage in any battle with lawmakers.
“I am prepared to do whatever it takes to eliminate the income tax in Mississippi,” the first-term Republican governor said. “We are going to work together over the next several days to get this done … We are going to eliminate the income tax in Mississippi.”
Reeves made his declaration Thursday during a press availability in his state Capitol office as legislators prepare to enter key negotiations on developing a budget and finalizing other major proposals. Work is expected to continue on the budget and other key bills through the weekend to meet key deadlines as the session’s scheduled April 3 conclusion nears.
The House has been on board with Reeves’ goal to phase out the income tax. Speaker Philip Gunn has cited the elimination of the income tax as his most important priority and has presented several proposals toward that end.
But Senate leaders, led by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, have stopped short of complete elimination of the income tax, which is the state’s second largest revenue source. Senate leaders have instead proposed an alternative proposal that merely cuts the income tax and would still be the largest tax cut in state history.
Gunn, in an effort to reach a compromise with the Senate on Wednesday, offered his latest proposal to the Senate — a more modest plan to phase out the income tax $100 million per year, meaning it would take 18 years or longer to complete.
“While I appreciate the House’s attempt to get compromise, their plan of $100 million (cut) in year one is way too little, and their 18 years to implement it is way too long,” Reeves said.
Gunn said the plan to phase out the income tax $100 million per year is not what he wants, but that he is trying to reach a compromise with the Senate.
Of Reeves’ proclamation that the income tax elimination proposal would pass this year, Gunn said: “Here we are two days from deadline, and we see his (Reeves’) first proposal. My question is, ‘Where are his votes?’”
Gunn said he would support the governor calling an immediate special session if a compromise is not reached by this weekend, which is the deadline during the regular session to agree on the issue.
On Thursday, Reeves proposed cutting the income tax by $600 million during calendar year 2023 by dropping the top marginal rate from 5% to 3.5%. He said that would reduce everyone’s tax liability by about 30%. Under his proposal, the 3.5% marginal rate then would be reduced one-half of a percent per year until it is eliminated. Mississippi currently has three tax rates, though the 3% rate is being phased out under a bill passed in 2016, meaning that there would be a rate of 4% on income above $5,000 and 5% on income above $10,000 minus exemptions. Under Reeves’ plan, there would be only a 3.5% rate as of 2023 that would be reduced one-half percent each year.
Reeves said Mississippi is experiencing unprecedented growth in tax collections. Mississippi’s financial experts, the governor said, are projecting the state will collect about $1.2 billion more in revenue than the $5.8 billion that was budgeted during the 2021 legislative session for the current fiscal year.
“It is time to give that money back to the taxpayers,” Reeves said.
State Economist Corey Miller and others have cited the unprecedented amount of COVID-19 federal relief funds coming into the state as the primary reason for the large surge in revenue collections. He said most other states are experiencing similar tax collection booms.
Because revenue collections are not expected to continue at their current pace, Hosemann said it would be more prudent to look at tax cuts, but not to totally eliminate the income tax.
“The Senate has proposed $439 million in recurring-dollar tax cuts on top of the $235 million ($674 million total) which has yet to be phased in from the 2016 cuts,” Hosemann said in a recent statement. “This is a conservative plan to return money to taxpayers. During the many hours we have spent with the House on this issue, we have not said we do not support ever eliminating the income tax in Mississippi.
“We can address further cuts at any time,” Hosemann continued. “Taxpayers expect us to be responsible stewards of tax dollars. The Senate’s plan includes cutting taxes and taking care of core government services — not gutting them.”
Past proposals from both the House and Senate also have cut the 7% grocery tax, which is the largest state-imposed tax on food in the nation. Reeves has not advocated cutting the grocery tax, but said he would not oppose it as long as the income tax is eliminated in the process.
