OurTupelo

After a state senator asked for an Ethics Commission opinion about the controversial House Republican Caucus meetings, commission leadership directed the senator to either file an official ethics complaint or ask the attorney general’s office for an opinion.

On March 4, state Sen. Sollie Norwood asked the Ethics Commission to opine on whether House Republican Caucus meetings — which consist of more than a quorum of the entire House of Representatives, are closed to the public and are often used to debate public policy behind closed doors — violate the Open Meetings Act.

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

But the same day, Norwood received a response from Tom Hood, executive director of the Ethics Commission, saying that the commission could not issue an opinion unless a formal complaint was filed.

“The Ethics Commission has the authority to enforce the Open Meetings Act through a complaint process,” Hood wrote to Norwood, who did not see Hood’s response until March 23. “However, the commission has no authority to issue advisory opinions about the Open Meetings Act…” 

Hood said that the attorney general’s office, not the Ethics Commission, has authority to issue advisory opinions regarding the Open Meetings Act.

As of March 24, the Ethics Commission does not have a complaint or any other request before its eight-member board to make a ruling on whether the House Republican Caucus is violating state law.

It is unclear if Norwood will file a formal ethics complaint or reach out to the attorney general’s office for an opinion. Meanwhile, the House Republican Caucus met Tuesday amid a cascade of questions from both Republicans and Democrats regarding the meetings’ legality.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The House Republican Caucus met on Tuesday of this week, just hours after the legality of the meetings were publicly called into question. The caucus, according to attendees, did not discuss any specific piece of legislation. The House Republicans ate lunch and heard from House leaders about upcoming legislative deadlines.

The post Ethics Commission will not rule — for now — on controversial House Republican Caucus meetings appeared first on Mississippi Today.

In celebration of Mississippi Today’s sixth anniversary, we’re taking a look back at some of our top stories through the years. Today, I wanted to share a story I reported in 2017 on a House committee chairman declining to take up the proposal to make domestic violence the 13th ground for divorce in Mississippi, although we later gave an update that the House passed domestic violence provisions under an amendment to a bill.

We’ve been reporting on these issues for years now. Our ongoing coverage and publicity of these issues holds lawmakers and public officials accountable. It’s not something we’re going to stop writing about — in fact, we published an analysis about the state’s “irrevocably broken” marriage laws during the current legislative session back in February.

We published this series on domestic violence that highlighted the broken systems and laws in Mississippi that leave our citizens vulnerable. All of this reporting is made possible by readers like you that share our vision of a better informed Mississippi capable of change. The longer we are supported by our readers, the more continued coverage we are able to provide.

Since we are a nonprofit, donations allow us to dig deeper into the stories that matter most to you by providing funding for everything that happens behind the scenes and fueling special projects that bring our readers greater insight into the issues that matter the most.

To our current members: Thank you for being a part of our mission.

To our readers who are not yet members: Thank you for your readership and engagement. We hope you will celebrate our sixth anniversary with us by joining our passionate member community by creating a donation. Will you help us reach our goal of 60 new members in the next six days?

The post Mississippi Today reflects on the last six years appeared first on Mississippi Today.

HATTIESBURG — Christine Jimenez spends her workdays on the phone explaining affordable health care to callers who dial 1-800-MEDICARE. Meanwhile, her own health care expenses are piling up. 

Despite working for a Maximus Federal call center contracted to help manage patients under the Affordable Care Act and Medicare plans, the 27-year-old described her own company provided health insurance as abysmal. 

Last year, she said about $18,000 came out of her paychecks to cover health insurance costs for her and her three kids — that’s more than half her $32,000 salary. That’s not counting out-of-pocket costs. The family deductible for the coverage was a staggering $9,000. 

Jimenez and most of the call center’s workers don’t get paid sick days. While they get “earned” days off, that time off isn’t paid.

So on Wednesday, Jimenez and several of her colleagues went on strike. In all, 47 workers and organizers participated in the strike, either gathered near the Maximus Federal’s Hattiesburg call center or participating online, demanding better treatment from the company.

“I was scared to come out today,” Jimenez said. “But it was important to show my daughter that no matter how small you are, you can come together and make a difference.”

After employee pressure, Maximus recently dropped the individual deductible of $4,500 to $2,500, which is closer to — but still about $830 more than — the national average. But Jimenez and others say they’re not done fighting for better pay and benefits from the multibillion-dollar company. 

Jimenez’s 3-year-old daughter, Naomi, gripped her mother’s hand while holding a protest sign. 

“I’m doing it for her,” Jimenez said.

Maximus workers in Bogalusa, Louisiana, held a similar demonstration at the same time late Wednesday morning.

Maximus Federal has about 10,000 workers across 11 call centers in nine states. At the end of fiscal year 2021, the company reported a revenue increase of 22.8% at $4.25 billion. 

The company said in a statement to Mississippi Today that it cares about its workers and has been advocating for updates to the Service Contract Act, which is a federal labor law that applies to every employer contracted by the federal government. 

“Maximus has improved health care benefits within the limitations of the funding levels made available under the terms of the (contract agreement) under which we operate,” the company said in the statement. 

Workers are also calling for an increase in their wages. Currently the call center workers make $15 an hour, a recent bump up from $11.25.

The pay increase came in anticipation of President Joe Biden executive order that requires all federal contractors to pay their workers at least $15 an hour. The order also calls for the Secretary of Labor to set a federal contractor minimum wage each year, meaning it could change. 

Maximus workers say they’re worried their pay could drop back down if it’s no longer required, by law, to be $15. 

In its statement to Mississippi Today, Maximus said their move to increase wages before the president’s order was finalized shows their dedication to employees. 

Sheree Collier, 59, of Collins has worked at the company since 2017. Her best friend, Frances Poole, 55, of Hattiesburg, has worked there the last seven years. Yet, neither have had individual raises based on their experience or tenure. Poole makes just as much per hour as new hires.

“I’ve never worked for a job before where I wasn’t paid for my merit,” Collier said. 

Collier led much of the group in chants: “More dignity, more respect — more money in our checks.”

“I know you can hear me in there, supervisors” she bellowed through the megaphone. 

On Tuesday, one of the Hattiesburg call center workers filed a complaint against the company to the National Labor Relations Board. A case is now opened. The worker is accusing the company of “coercive actions” and “coercive statements,” which could include surveillance and threats against an employee trying to organize, according to board records. 

Maximus workers are not in a recognized union, although they are in organizing efforts with Communications Workers of America and its local CWA 3509 chapter. 

They employees say they’re working toward unionizing and hope to get enough to support to be recognized and able to bargain with Maximus.

“We respect our employees’ legal right to attempt to organize, and any information we provide is designed to help them make an informed decision about union representation,” Maximus said in its statement.

Mississippi is a right-to-work state, meaning workers are not required to pay dues or join an established union. Like much of the South, Mississippi is known for having few active unions.

Efforts to unionize Maximus workers have fizzled before. Poole said, in part, it’s because of high turnover of her coworkers. But previous union talks never resulted in a strike like Wednesday’s.

“Don’t be afraid,” Collier said through the megaphone to fellow strikers, while other workers parked and walked into the offices. “Don’t let Maximus intimidate you.”

Clarification: This story has been updated to reflect the total number of workers who participated in the strike, some of whom did so online. Language about where employees are in the unionization process has also been updated.

The post Mississippi call center workers go on strike to demand better benefits, treatment appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Question: What does it tell you when six of the 14 universities in the Southeastern Conference have hired new men’s basketball coaches in a week’s time?

Answer: I don’t know. It just means more?

In a way, it does tell you it means more – at least from a financial standpoint. It must. SEC schools, including Mississippi State, will pay many millions of dollars of buyout money to coaches who will not be their coach any more. They are doing that so they can hire new coaches and pay them more millions to succeed where their predecessors could not.

State, Florida, Georgia, LSU, Missouri and South Carolina all have hired new hoops coaches.

When nearly half of a league’s coaching jobs change hands, it also tells you these are difficult jobs where the only thing that exceeds the salaries are the expectation levels. Al Davis said it best: “Just win, baby!” Davis coached football, not basketball, and he coached in the pros, not colleges. But what he said surely applies to SEC basketball. Just win, baby! Win, or else.

Chris Jans, the new Mississippi State coach, brings sterling credentials to the job. To paraphrase Davis: Jans has just won, baby, everywhere he’s been and especially at his most recent job, New Mexico State.

Over the past five seasons, Jans’ New Mexico State teams have won 122 games while losing only 32. Three of those five teams made the NCAA Tournament. Contrast that with this: Mississippi State has made the NCAA Tournament once in the past 13 seasons.

The flip side: Look at the credentials Jans’ predecessor brought to Starkville. Before Ben Howland took the State job he had been selected Coach of the Year in three different conferences, had taken two Pittsburgh teams to the NCAA Sweet 16 and then taken three consecutive UCLA teams to the Final Four. Howland’s teams at Pitt and UCLA won nearly 70 percent of their games.

Howland’s Mississippi State teams won 58% of their games over seven seasons and went to the NCAA Tournament once. To be fair, Howland’s 2019-20 State team (20-11, 11-7) almost surely would have gone to the NCAA Tournament had not COVID caused cancellation of the post-season.

The point is, Howland – always a gentleman in all our dealings – is a proven winner and never had a losing season at State. Yet, he couldn’t do enough at State to keep his job for an eighth season.

Jans, who looks for all the world like Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, seemed nothing if not confident in his opening press conference Wednesday morning in Starkville. (Jans looks so much like Cruz, I had to check and make sure I was on the SEC Network, not CNN.)

“We’re going to play with confidence,” Jans said. “When we walk out of the tunnel, we’re going have a swagger about us, We’re going to believe in each other. We’re going to play together. We’re never going to step out on the floor without a chip on our shoulder. And we’re never going to fear anybody. We’re going to respect our opponents, but we’re going to be very prepared and treat every game like the Super Bowl.”

Jans’ winning percentage of .765 currently ranks fourth among active coaches (and that will soon be third because this is Mike Krzyzewski’s last season).

During the press conference Wednesday, a reporter mentioned that State has been to only one NCAA Tournament in the last 13 years and asked how long it would take Jans to remedy that.

Jans didn’t hesitate before answering. 

“Our goal is to be in the tournament next year,” Jans said. “You’re not going to hear me talking about building a program. In this day and age of transferring and the portal and with the landscape of college basketball, that’s not the way it is going to be done. You’ve got to build a team each and every year. With my junior college background, that’s what we’ve done for the most part over my entire career. I’m comfortable in this space. It’s been proven around the country, you can improve your fortunes in a hurry.”

Yes, you can. And, by the same token, your dreams can crash and burn in a hurry as well. Remember, similar press conferences were – or will be – going on at six different SEC schools. Everybody’s goal is to be in the NCAA Tournament every year.

More than half, most years, will fail. And that will lead to more multi-million buyouts – and more press conferences.

The post State introduces Chris Jans, as six SEC hoops jobs change hands appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Alcorn State University has released a strategic plan that aims to help the historically Black land grant university “achieve preeminence through transformative teaching and research excellence.” Some faculty and alumni say they wish the plan contained more specific, measurable goals. 

The plan identifies several goals the university would like to accomplish by 2026, such as increasing enrollment and making the U.S. News and World Report’s list of top 20 historically Black colleges and universities. 

The 36-page document also provides an overview of the current challenges that Alcorn and other universities in Mississippi are facing: Facilities instability due to the pandemic, a decline in the number of high school graduates in the next decade, and a “wider variability in the talents of admitted students, their academic preparation for college.” 

Felecia Nave, Alcorn’s president, wrote in a letter that the plan is intended to help the university address these challenges. 

“Alcorn has been transforming the way the world lives, thinks, and learns since 1871,” Nave wrote. “This plan positions us to do that for the next 150 years.” 

Alcorn started developing the plan in December 2020 with support from the Woodward Hines Education Foundation and SmithGroup, a consulting firm. Over the course of a year, SmithGroup helped Alcorn conduct a survey of the university’s strengths and weaknesses that garnered 1,300 responses. Alcorn also held open forums on campus attended by about 370 stakeholders and created an advisory and steering committee, which reworked the university’s mission statement. (When asked how much Alcorn paid SmithGroup, a university spokesperson directed Mississippi Today to file a records request.) 

“During this process, we became aware that our future will be characterized by global connections, filled with diverse peoples and perspectives, and dominated by the fast pace of technological change, especially in learning and teaching,” the report says. 

Strategic plans are meant to serve as high-level guideposts as university administrations make decisions that impact an institution’s future. Strategic plans, now ubiquitous in higher education, are essentially a business approach to leading colleges and universities, according to The Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Some faculty and alumni told Mississippi Today they wished the strategic plan contained more specifics. The report groups Alcorn’s goals into five broad categories. Each of those categories contain more specific goals like increasing student, faculty and staff diversity by 10% and implementing a 10-year master plan for campus facilities. 

“I think most of the goals sound great. Many of them I agree with,” one faculty member told Mississippi Today. “My main concern is that the document does not provide really any details about how those goals are going to be achieved in any real, practical sense.” 

A recurring theme in the plan is better engagement and support of faculty. Under the goal “transformation through innovation,” the plan says that Alcorn wants to see a “25% increase in faculty and staff engagement in faculty/staff development.” The plan says that Alcorn will achieve that by establishing “the Office for Faculty Affairs/Center for Faculty Innovation” but does not say how “engagement” will be measured. 

“Where is the money going to come from for that?” asked the faculty member, who requested anonymity because they do not have tenure. “Right now we have no conference/travel funds at all and our library resources/databases are so limited.” 

Faculty have repeatedly asked Nave’s administration for more transparency, and some hoped the strategic plan could provide that. In a memo to Nave and Ontario Wooden, the provost, members of the faculty senate last month addressed their “ongoing concerns about issues that affect the academic integrity (i.e. quality of teaching and learning) on this campus.” 

Specifically, faculty wrote they still do not know the outcome of an accreditation visit in March 2021 that was “of direct relevance to us.” Faculty also wrote they have yet to receive a copy of a compensation study that Nave’s office said it would provide in November 2021. 

The memo also said that at the start of the spring 2022 semester, Nave’s administration again canceled classes with low enrollment, including ones that students needed to graduate — an issue faculty members repeatedly raised over the course of the past year. This semester, Nave’s office sought to ensure students could still graduate on time by providing independent study in lieu of the cancelled course, the memo said. But that created more work for some faculty, who were “asked to conduct independent studies for students who need to graduate, with no additional pay.”

The memo recommends that Nave’s administration “cease from relying on an authoritarian, ‘chain-of-command’ style of leadership. Instead, focus on building collaborative relationships with faculty, who are highly educated, intelligent and competent peers/colleagues of members of the administration, with expertise in areas related both to the academic profession and teaching and learning.” 

Editor’s note: Woodward Hines is a financial supporter of Mississippi Today.

The post Faculty say Alcorn’s new strategic plan does little to address their ongoing concerns appeared first on Mississippi Today.

House Speaker Philip Gunn on Wednesday offered a greatly scaled-back income tax elimination plan — a peace offering amid a tax cut standoff with the Senate that threatened to derail the 2022 legislative session in its final days.

Gunn also said the House would not block spending of federal pandemic stimulus money or setting a state budget for next year. But he made clear that the House could hold up spending more than $2 billion in surplus state money and other measures over the tax debate.

READ MORE: Cities, counties urge lawmakers to approve federal stimulus spending amid tax cut standoff

And he reiterated, as he has since last year, that he wants Mississippi’s personal income tax eliminated — not just cut — even if it takes many years to do so.

“We have sent at least four different proposals or plans to the Senate,” Gunn said. “… We have extra revenue. If we don’t give back to the taxpayers, what then does the Senate propose? Spend it.”

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in a statement on Wednesday said, “We understand the House is now prepared to allocate the one-time (federal stimulus) funds and we look forward to working with them to finalize a plan.”

But on tax cuts, Hosemann appeared to stand pat on the Senate proposal. He said the Senate has “a conservative plan” that “includes cutting taxes and taking care of core government services—not gutting them.” He said he’s not opposed to someday eliminating the income tax, but that can be addressed over time.

The latest House proposal is to eliminate the state personal income tax — which generates about $1.8 billion, or one-third of state general fund revenue — by $100 million a year until it’s gone. The new proposal has a six-year “repealer,” meaning lawmakers would have to review and reinstate the plan in six years. Besides, Gunn noted, the Legislature could “suspend” the tax cuts at any time if the budget tanks. Elimination would take 18 years under the new proposal.

The $100 million a year cuts in income tax would mean about $100 a year to a Mississippian making about $40,000 a year or $200 for a couple making $80,000.

“This ($100 million a year) would be about 1.5% of our budget, or a penny-and-a-half on the dollar we would be giving back to the taxpayer,” Gunn said. “… We have about $1.5 billion in excess revenue right now, and we’re on pace to have about $2.5 billion … We believe we have enough revenue to give some relief to the taxpayers, and we want to do that before we spend these excess dollars.

“We have addressed every Senate objection,” Gunn said. “… The only remaining objection is, do you spend the money or give it back to the taxpayers?”

Republican Gunn and the House leadership have pushed for personal income tax elimination for two years now, but have been thwarted by Republican Hosemann and his Senate leadership. Hosemann says the current budget surplus is the result of billions of federal dollars being dumped into the state economy and is likely fleeting. He said eliminating a third of the state’s revenue during uncertain economic times is ill advised. Senate leaders have said that there should be plenty of opportunities down the road to cut or eliminate taxes — depending on what the economy does.

Nevertheless, Hosemann and the Senate have proposed what would also be the largest tax cuts in state history, plus a one-time rebate for taxpayers this year ranging from $100 to $1,000 depending on income.

But House leaders have called the Senate tax cuts a half measure, and say that eliminating the personal income tax would draw people and businesses to Mississippi. Hosemann and Senate leaders counter that improving education and infrastructure in the poorest state in the nation would do more to draw people and industry.

Gunn’s House tax elimination proposal has been through numerous iterations since last year. It started as more of a tax swap, phasing out the personal income tax while raising the sales tax on retail and other goods by 2.5 cents-on-the-dollar. It had “growth triggers” that would have eliminated the personal income tax with state revenue growth over years.

Facing opposition from various business interests, Gunn has scaled back, then recently eliminated the sales tax increases. Gunn has also retreated on cuts to car tag fees and reducing the sales tax on groceries, although the Senate still proposes cutting the tax on groceries from 7% to 5%.

The Senate has recently increased its proposed tax cuts amid the debate, but stood firm against eliminating the income tax. Most recently, Hosemann proposed reducing the state’s top, 5% tax bracket to 4.6% over four years, then elimination of the lower 4% tax bracket over the next four years after that. Originally, the Senate had proposed only the phase out of the 4% bracket. The new, eight-year Senate tax cut plan would cost about $439 million a year when totally implemented.

Hosemann and the Senate are also proposing to suspend the state’s 18.4 cents-a-gallon gasoline tax for six months using about $215 million in tax dollars on hand to reimburse the Mississippi Department of Transportation, which uses the gas tax for roads, bridges and matching federal dollars. House leaders said Mississippians would probably barely notice such a break with gas prices currently so high.

Mississippi city and county leaders on Wednesday welcomed Gunn’s commitment that the House would not block spending of federal American Rescue Plan Act money over the tax cut battle.

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

READ MORE: Cities, counties urge lawmakers to approve federal stimulus spending amid tax cut standoff

Hosemann had decried Gunn and the House’s threats to hold up ARPA spending over tax elimination. This week, leaders of associations representing 299 cities and 82 counties in Mississippi called on lawmakers to move forward on the spending to allow local governments time and resources to make major infrastructure improvements.

After Gunn’s announcements Wednesday, Shari Veazey, director of the Mississippi Municipal League that represents city governments, called Gunn’s pledge “progress.”

“We are very supportive of them moving ahead with the ARPA funds,” Veazey said. “That sounds like progress. We have cities with shovel-ready projects … But it takes time to engineer and plan a project, bid them out, and then the actual construction. These things can seem to move at a snail’s pace — we have supply chain and other issues now, too — and the sooner they could get started the better.”

Hosemann and others have warned that delaying the ARPA spending could result in losing the money, if the state missed federal deadlines for the spending, or if Congress decided to take back unspent money.

On Wednesday, Hosemann again fired back at Gunn and any threats to hold up other spending or legislation over the tax debate.

“None of us were elected to grind government to a halt,” Hosemann said. “We will not conduct ourselves this way in the Mississippi Senate. We will continue to work and call for public conference committees on the budget and other general bills.”

The post Speaker Philip Gunn scales back his income tax elimination proposal appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Monday, March 28 marks exactly six years since Mississippi Today began. That’s six years of putting our readers first and bringing the real lives of Mississippians to the forefront of the headlines. Built on the foundation of providing Mississippi with a trustworthy news source free of paywalls and subscriptions, we have since grown in a myriad of ways.

Since we began, we have covered various beats and take pride in creating engaging events (when public health allows) that give us the opportunity to come together with the communities around the state.

Over the next six days, we plan to take our readers on a journey through the past six years by looking back at some of our top stories from each year. Let’s first take a look back at the year it all started: 2016.

One of our top stories from that year centered around our coverage of the controversial House Bill 1523, commonly referred to as the “religious freedom law.” Reporter Larrison Campbell followed the tumultuous and confusing lawsuit as it unfolded over many months. In short, “House Bill 1523 singles out three ‘sincerely held’ religious beliefs as worthy of protection: that marriage is between one man and one woman; that people should not have sex outside such marriages; and that a person’s gender is set at birth. The law protects from litigation anyone who speaks out against gay marriage or transgender individuals because of these beliefs.”

Part of our reporting revolves around breaking down complicated issues and providing continuous coverage so all Mississippians stay up-to-date on the pressing issues facing our state. As you can see, we began our journey by providing our readers with mission-driven journalism — all for free. That’s where you come in. This type of journalism is only possible with help from readers like you.

Being a nonprofit is central to who we are as a newsroom. It means we are driven by values, not by dividends, and it means that we rely on donations from readers to power the work we do: paying for records requests, keeping the lights on, providing our team with healthcare and much more.

To our current members: thank you, truly, for your generous support. Our work is not possible without you.

To our readers who are not yet members: thank you for your readership and engagement. I hope you’ll consider joining our community of members by making a donation. Our journalists may be the ones writing the stories, but without you, those stories go untold.

The post Mississippi Today celebrates sixth anniversary in March appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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

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

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

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

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

READ MORE: Mississippi Supreme Court strikes down ballot initiative process

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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