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

A politician with more power than anyone in the state can have what he thinks is a good policy idea. But without decent relationships with other power brokers in Jackson, the idea will never survive the legislative gauntlet.

It takes savvy and skill to move policy through the Capitol, but the most important factor is relationships. The best ones in Jackson are built over time, during hard-fought battles and over late-night steak dinners. The worst ones jeopardize major legislative proposals and kill chances to make Mississippi a better place.

Any given legislative session, the relationship between a speaker and lieutenant governor is the most important in Mississippi politics. Some of the most transformative legislation this state has seen was passed because these two leaders were on the same page.

On the other hand, some of the most epic political fights in the state’s history have occurred between these two leaders. Party affiliation and the will of voters often mean nothing in this relationship; instead, large egos and defiant personalities often bubble to the surface.

We’ve now had two years to see how Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann work together. But as major policy proposals loom over the potentially historic 2022 legislative session, where does their relationship stand today?

Here’s what several politicos and lawmakers said about it.

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This week, Philip Gunn enters his 11th year as speaker — the third-longest tenured Speaker of the House in Mississippi’s history. Delbert Hosemann is still a new lieutenant governor, though his first two years have certainly been formative.

To this point, Gunn’s experience has clearly given him the upper hand at the Capitol. He is decisive and he’s built strong coalitions. Gunn and his top lieutenants in the House have built relationships with Democratic and Black Caucus leaders and even Senate leaders over many years. Some of those Senate relationships may even trump the ones that they have with Hosemann, their own presiding officer. Gunn has a caucus of House uber-conservatives who dislike him, but their bloc is small and ineffectual.

Hosemann, meanwhile, has appeared passive and indecisive at times during his first two years. He and his staff are still learning how the building works, and legislators of all parties on both sides of the building have picked up on that. He also has a handful of Republican senators who have remained close with Gov. Tate Reeves, who preceded Hosemann as lieutenant governor. Several times, that reality has created tension and uncertainty within the Senate Republican caucus about key Hosemann proposals.

There has been some tension between Gunn and Hosemann mostly behind closed doors, but nothing that proved detrimental to major policy proposals. The two meet and talk regularly, having become especially close during 2021. Sources from both sides say their relationship entering the 2022 session is as good as it’s ever been.

But several politicos are on the lookout for some erosion of their relationship this session. 

Gunn’s top agenda item this session is eliminating the personal income tax, which accounts for about one-third of the state’s general fund revenue. Hosemann has never been a big fan of this proposal for several reasons, though he has been having regular talks with the speaker about how it could work.

Gunn wants to raise some other taxes to offset the revenue holes this tax cut would leave, but sources say Hosemann remains skeptical about whether this tax cut during the rare time Mississippi is flush with cash is the best long-term move for the state. If Gunn doesn’t get cooperation from Hosemann on the tax cut, how will that affect many of Hosemann’s priorities? Some in the Capitol fear broad policy gridlock between the House and Senate if the two can’t agree on some variation of Gunn’s income tax cut proposal.

In the upper chamber, Hosemann has made his top priority the spending of Mississippi’s historic surplus in revenues, bolstered by federal stimulus cash. He’s toured the state in recent months — visiting more than 50 of the state’s 82 counties — talking to local leaders about how lawmakers should spend their $1.8 billion pot of American Rescue Plan Act funds. 

Hosemann wants to take the best ideas of local government leaders and match the funding with American Rescue Act Plan funds that the state received. Additionally, he’s privately told state agency heads and other government leaders that he can get their wish-lists funded. He’s done all of this, seemingly, without Gunn’s blessing.

Gunn seems to be fine slow rolling the federal spending. He has said publicly that lawmakers have several years to spend the funds, so there’s no need to rush. That hasn’t seemed to sit well with Hosemann, who believes the financial need across the state is great and the time to spend the funds is now.

There are many other examples of the two leaders being seemingly out of sync on policy ideas, but none are bigger than these two — the top priorities for both. And given how much both leaders have worked on and publicly touted them, there might not be much room for compromise on either plan.

The consensus among political observers is that if we look back on the 2022 session and see that Gunn and Hosemann’s relationship began to unravel, these are the two issues that we’ll have to examine most closely.

The post Inside Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann’s relationship appeared first on Mississippi Today.

There’s an old saying around the Mississippi Capitol: When the state has no money, lawmakers fuss and fight. When the state has lots of extra money, lawmakers really fuss and fight.

If that holds true, the 2022 legislative session that starts Tuesday should be a donnybrook. The state has an extra $4.2 billion to spend, between federal largesse from COVID-19 stimulus and increased state tax revenue — largely also a result of previous federal stimulus spending over the last two years. For perspective, the state general budget is usually around $6 billion a year.

Reaching agreement on the extra spending would be a heavy lift for the 174-member, part-time citizen Legislature. But it also faces another half-dozen or so major issues or chores — redistricting, income tax cuts or elimination, medical marijuana, reinstating the citizen ballot initiative, teacher pay, banning some things about race that are not being taught in Mississippi schools — any one of which could create epic political wrangling.

And the current legislative leadership that took office in 2020, despite being all Republican, has had trouble agreeing on major issues. Gov. Tate Reeves has often been at odds with the legislative leadership even when those leaders have reached agreements. They’ve even squared off in court.

Reeves has already floated a veto threat for an issue where lawmakers appeared to reach agreement after working on it all summer — medical marijuana. Despite promising for months he would call lawmakers into special session last year if they reached an agreement on a program, Reeves reneged, saying the program was too liberal with the amount of marijuana it would provide patients, and was a beachhead for recreational use.

The legislative session is set to last about three months. It’s not unrealistic to think lawmakers might have to go into extra innings — either extending the regular session or coming back into special session(s) given the workload before them.

Some political leaders have questioned why the governor — who holds sole authority to do so — didn’t call the Legislature into special session in 2021 to get an early start on some work, particularly on medical marijuana and on spending the $1.8 billion in American Rescue Plan Act stimulus money lawmakers will direct. Mississippi appears to be behind most other states in planning for or spending ARPA money.

“What are we waiting on?” House Minority Leader Robert Johnson III, D-Natchez, said last fall. “… This will take time to do it right. We at least need a special session for planning … I thought one of the advantages of having this unilateral leadership, one party controlling both houses and the executive branch, was that they’d all be on the same page and they’d all be talking. They don’t talk.”

Of the state’s leadership, only Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has expressed urgency on the federal spending. He has urged that the spending be carefully planned and administered, to ensure it provides lasting, generational improvements in the poorest state in the union. Hosemann created a special subcommittee that held multiple hearings on the funding in the off season. Neither the House nor the governor’s office participated in the hearings or have held similar public planning sessions.

“We have to get this right,” Hosemann has repeatedly said, and called it a “once in a lifetime opportunity.”

The state income tax promises to be another source of debate for lawmakers this year. House Speaker Philip Gunn wants to phase out the state income tax, and replace it with increases in sales and other use taxes. Reeves wants to eliminate the income tax, but by betting on the come, without any commensurate increases in taxes elsewhere. Each has criticized the others’ proposal.

Hosemann has taken a more studied, reserved approach, and Senate leaders have urged caution in making such a sea change in the state budget during uncertain economic times.

For the 2022 session, a far more likely outcome is a substantial income tax cut, not elimination.

For other issues, such as a teacher pay raise, there appears to be general agreement, but the devil — and debate — may lie in the details and amounts.

Observers of sessions past have decried a “do-nothing Legislature” when the body failed to tackle major issues. That won’t likely be said of the 2022 Mississippi legislative session.

The post 2022 will be far from a ‘do nothing’ session for Mississippi Legislature appeared first on Mississippi Today.

I was recently struggling to describe the sheer insanity of a Mississippi legislative session, so I called a prominent lawmaker who served in 36 of them to ask his opinion.

“I’ll tell it to you like this,” said Steve Holland, former state representative from Plantersville. “In 1983, I was way out in the country in Lee County campaigning for my first term in the House. I drove up to this old guy’s house. He had his overalls on, riding around on his Ford tractor plowing his garden.

“I told him I was running for the Legislature and that I’d like his vote. He stopped and looked at me and said, ‘Why on earth would you want to do that? You’re crazy. The Legislature is the only institution I know of that’s run by the inmates themselves.’ And by God, after doing it for 36 years, I’d say that was the damndest true statement I ever heard.”

It appears this year’s legislative session will be among the crazier in recent memory. Billions in surplus revenue await appropriation. Redistricting looms for congressional and legislative seats. A medical marijuana program and ballot initiative process are likely to be debated.

Then there are some optional items that appear to have strong political appetite like eliminating the personal income tax, raising teacher pay substantially and expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. And because, of course, it’s Mississippi, expect nasty fights over red meat issues like critical race theory.

To devote special attention to this potentially historic legislative session, we’re launching a weekly newsletter and a special section.

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Our free newsletter, which you can sign up for just above this sentence, will be much more than just a recap of each week’s coverage. We’ll break some news here, and we’ll give you the inside track on what to expect at the Capitol each week.

As a subscriber of the newsletter, you’ll have an exclusive first look at our weekly analyses about what’s happening behind closed doors in the building. You’ll get them a few hours earlier than anyone else.

The first newsletter of the session will publish Jan. 4, the first day of the 2022 legislative session. I wrote about the current relationship between the state’s top leaders who will be responsible for turning policy ideas into law: Speaker of the House Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann.

We have also created a 2022 Legislative Guide, which we will launch on Jan. 4, as well. There, you’ll find the basics like how a bill becomes law, key legislative deadlines and how to find and contact your lawmakers. It will also house our comprehensive coverage of the 2022 legislative session.

Thanks, as always, for reading. We really appreciate your support!

The post Your guide to Mississippi’s 2022 legislative session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

The 2022 legislative session, which begins at noon on Tuesday, is shaping up as one of the most eventful in recent memory.

Legislators — 52 senators and 122 House members — will face a litany of issues, any one of which could consume much of the time and energy of a regular session.

If this year is like others, many issues that no one is talking about will become controversial and will dominate a large portion of the session. That nearly always happens — such as removing the state flag in 2020 or stripping some of the city of Jackson’s authority over the Jackson-Medgar Wiley Evers International Airport in 2016.

With just 90 days in the scheduled regular session, lawmakers will have a chore on their hands. In no particular order, here is a list of some of the top issues facing legislators:

Reinstating the ballot initiative process

In May 2021, the Mississippi Supreme Court in a landmark and controversial ruling said that the state’s initiative process was invalid. The court made the ruling based on the fact the constitutional language setting up the initiative process said signatures to place issues on the ballot must be gathered equally from five U.S. House districts. The state has had only four districts since the 2000 U.S. Census, making it impossible for initiative sponsors to carry out that mandate.

It will take agreement from a two-thirds majority from each chamber to place an issue on the ballot to allow citizens to reinstate the process by which they can garner signatures to place issues on the ballot. Most likely, there will be an effort to change the old process so that citizens gather signatures to place issues on the ballot to change or amend state law instead of the Constitution.

Medical marijuana

When the Supreme Court struck down the initiative process, it did so in a ruling on a lawsuit challenging the validity of a November 2020 vote on an initiative that legalized medical marijuana. Results from that election, of course, were also thrown out.

All of the state’s top political leaders — Speaker Philip Gunn, Lt. Gov, Delbert Hosemann and Gov. Tate Reeves — said they want to legalize medical marijuana during the 2022 session. But Reeves has said he will veto legislation in its current form because it allows too large of a quantity of marijuana to be disbursed to individuals.

Redistricting

The Legislature is slated to take up the redrawing of the four U.S. House seats and 174 state legislative seats during the 2022 session to adhere to population shifts found by the 2020 U.S. Census.

The drawing of the state legislative districts, in particular, has the potential to be contentious because it impacts each lawmaker’s ability to be reelected.

Teacher pay

Mississippi teachers remain on or near the bottom in the region and nationally in terms of pay. Legislative leaders and the governor have indicated that a significant raise will be passed in the 2022 session on the heels of the $1,000 raise approved last session.

In his 2019 gubernatorial campaign, Reeves committed to a multi-year, $4,300 raise for teachers. But in his first budget proposal after being elected, he said nary a word about a teacher pay raise.

But coming into this session, the governor has proposed a $3,300 raise phased in during three years. The Senate leadership, in particular, has said not only the salary, but other items, such as the cost of health insurance for teachers, should be considered this session as part of any teacher pay consideration.

Cutting the personal income tax

Both the speaker and governor have proposed phasing out the income tax, which accounts for about one-third of state general fund revenue. Because of the state’s strong tax collections, Reeves has proposed a five-year phase out. Last year Gunn proposed increasing the sales tax on various retail items to help offset the elimination of the income tax and to offset his proposal to also cut the 7% sales tax on groceries in half.

What, if anything happens on the income tax, could have a direct impact on another issue: teacher pay.

A $4.2 billion surplus of funds

Unprecedented revenue growth, fueled at least in part by circumstances related to the COVID-19 pandemic, have resulted in a staggering state surplus in funds. That surplus includes $1.8 billion in federal American Rescue Plan funds that are designed to help deal with the pandemic.

But legislators have considerable discretion in how those funds are spent. Hosemann has said he wants to ensure the impact for the state in the spending of the unprecedented funds “is generational, not for one or two years, but for one or two generations.”

Legislators also must be aware that the recent rapid growth in the tax collections will likely slow dramatically as circumstances surrounding the pandemic change.

Critical race theory

Both Gunn and Reeves have voiced their support of legislation banning the teaching of critical race theory, which the state Department of Education has said repeatedly is not being taught in Mississippi schools.

The issue could be one of the most contentious taken up during the session. Many fear that any ban of critical race theory, which is in general terms a collegiate level academic field, would prevent the teaching of the impact of race and racism on the state and country and also conflict with an existing state law calling for the teaching of civil rights and its history in Mississippi.

Medicaid expansion

The issue might not come up, but it will be on the backburner for the session. Mississippi is one of only 12 state not to expand Medicaid and receive literally billions in federal funds to provide health coverage for between 150,000 and 300,000 Mississippians who primarily work, but in jobs that do not provide health insurance.

The federal government normally pays 90% of the costs of Medicaid expansion, but because of congressional action in response to the coronavirus, the feds will now pay even more to states that expand.

Gunn and Reeves have voiced strong opposition to expansion. Hosemann has indicated he would be willing to study the issue and had indicated Senate committees would before the 2022 session began, but they did not.

The post The top issues lawmakers could address in 2022 appeared first on Mississippi Today.

Mississippi Today’s politics team breaks down the seven biggest issues lawmakers will address in the 2022 session. Reports Bobby Harrison and Geoff Pender join Adam Ganucheau to discuss what to expect during the session and to analyze key relationships under the Capitol dome.

Listen to more episodes of The Other Side here.

The post Podcast: Everything you need to know about the 2022 legislative session appeared first on Mississippi Today.

An early fight between the legislative leadership and Gov. Tate Reeves could be brewing if he vetoes a medical marijuana bill as he said he would do if it does not meet his specifications.

Many anticipate passing a medical marijuana bill will be one of the first priorities of the Legislature in the 2022 session. Most legislators, including Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann, had expressed support for the governor calling a special session to take up medical marijuana after the state Supreme Court stunningly struck down the medical marijuana program approved by voters in November 2020.

But the governor, who has the sole authority to call a special session, refused in large part because he said the proposal worked out by House and Senate leaders allowed for too large a quantity of marijuana to be dispensed to individuals.

Reeves blocked the proposal for 2021 by refusing to call a special session. He now says he is likely to try to block the proposal in the 2022 regular session by the power of his pen — through his veto.

“As it is currently written, I don’t think I will be able to do that,” Reeves said referring to signing into law the bill that is expected to be offered during the 2022 session by legislative leaders.

Then Reeves said, “I am hopeful we can find at least 18 senators and 44 or 45 House members willing to vote against (the number needed to uphold his veto) so we can negotiate a true medical marijuana bill in our state.”

In 2021, while the Legislature was out of session, Reeves controlled the process because medical marijuana could not be taken up until he called a special session.

In the 2022 regular session, the governor still maintains a substantial amount of power in determining the fate of medical marijuana. After all, it takes an overwhelming two-thirds majority to override a Mississippi governor’s veto.

Overriding a gubernatorial veto used to be almost as easy for the Mississippi Legislature as taking candy from a baby. But when partisan politics began to emerge in the state, overriding a veto became much more difficult. For decades an overwhelming Democratic legislative majority had no problem overriding a fellow Democrat in the governor’s office.

But in the 2003 legislative session, Democrats in the House decided that overriding their fellow party mate — former Gov. Ronnie Musgrove — as he was preparing for a tough re-election campaign against Republican Haley Barbour was a bad idea. So, they did not, much to the chagrin of the House Democratic Speaker Tim Ford who wanted to conduct business as usual by overriding Musgrove.

Then for 16 years, legislative Republicans made sure that the vetoes of fellow Republican governors — first Barbour and then Phil Bryant — were not overridden.

The Republican legislative supermajority did override Reeves in his first year in office when he vetoed a large portion of the appropriations bill that funded the state’s kindergarten through 12th grade schools.

But overriding his veto of medical marijuana might not be as easy.

Remember there will be some legislators, primarily Republicans, who oppose medical marijuana and will not vote under any circumstances for a bill legalizing it. If there are enough of them combined with those who are loyal to or most likely agree with Reeves on the issue of limiting the amount of marijuana dispensed, it is possible that the overwhelming two-thirds majority needed to override the veto cannot be achieved.

Then, legislators who support medical marijuana will be forced to work with Reeves to try to hammer out an agreement.

Of course, the governor does risk political consequences if the ultimate result of his veto power play is that no medical marijuana bill is passed. Reeves can perhaps rightfully argue that legislators bear as much of the blame as he does. But the truth is he is the governor — by far the most highly visible of the politicians involved in the rift — so he most likely would receive the bulk of the blame.

And the fact that voters overwhelmingly approved the medical marijuana initiative in 2020 does not necessarily mean it will become law now that the Supreme Court struck it down.

In 1992 voters approved an amendment to the state Constitution that removed the ban on a state lottery. Still, Mississippi did not get a lottery.

While the lottery ban was removed from the Constitution, there were not enough votes in the Legislature (only a simple majority was needed) to pass a bill establishing a lottery. That did not happen until the summer of 2018 — 26 years later.

The post Gov. Reeves still holds some cards in regular session medical marijuana showdown appeared first on Mississippi Today.

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The U.S. Department of Education has approved Mississippi’s plan for spending pandemic-related education funds and released the last third of the money to the state. 

The Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief (ESSER) fund is intended to help schools run safely throughout the pandemic and increase opportunities for students whose educational experience has been negatively impacted. The fund was first created in March 2020 in the Coronavirus Aid Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, and has been replenished multiple times throughout the pandemic by federal legislation. 

Mississippi was allocated $1.6 billion in the latest round of ESSER funds, this time through the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). The state received the first $1.08 billion in late March of this year and the remaining $543 million was released to the state yesterday. 

The plan includes a full return to in-person learning, encouraging local vaccine drives at schools, increased individual and small-group tutoring, summer enrichment programs, and the state’s telehealth program for mental health counseling. 

“Mississippi has prioritized in-person learning because it is the most effective way to keep students engaged, accelerate learning and address their social and emotional learning needs,” said Carey Wright, Mississippi state superintendent of education.

While some of these efforts – like a return to traditional learning and encouragement of vaccine drives – are already in place, others have been delayed. 

The telehealth program mentioned in the plan is a collaboration between the University of Mississippi Medical Center’s Center for the Advancement of Youth (CAY) and the Achievement School District and Jefferson County School District. It consists of two parts: a program that aims to equip teachers with the skills to identify and respond to behavioral issues in their students, and a referral to a counselor for students who need more help. 

The program was initially set to launch in the fall but has been delayed until Jan. 12, 2022.

Teachers at both school districts told CAY officials their students are struggling with grief and loss, depression and anxiety, community violence and cyberbullying. Experts at UMMC will focus their efforts in those areas. 

Adrian Hammitte, the superintendent of Jefferson County School District, said the help is much needed as behavioral issues in both the upper elementary and junior high schools in his district have increased. 

“I think we all know over the last two years it has been extremely hard for the students, teachers and community members here,” he said. “And particularly in Jefferson County, if we look at our situation before COVID, it was already challenging.”  

The plan also includes improving connectivity and technology access for rural and low-income students.

 READ MORE: Follow the money: Mississippi Today tracks how the state is spending billions in pandemic relief funds

The post Mississippi’s plan for $1.6 billion in pandemic relief for education approved by the feds appeared first on Mississippi Today.

New programs in Mississippi will pay timber and farmland owners to store carbon as part of a growing market aimed at reducing emissions and slowing climate change.

Landowners can receive what are called “carbon credits” based on how much carbon they sequester, or store, in their trees or soil, rather than releasing it into the atmosphere. The landowner can then sell those credits for money through an exchange, usually to companies looking to offset their own emissions.

The concept has existed for a while, but has picked up recent momentum as companies anticipate more government regulations around emissions. 

With an abundance of forest and a large timber industry, Mississippians are growing curious about the new potential for income. 

One timber carbon market exchange, a California-based company called NCX, began its first contracts with landowners in the state earlier this year. NCX is working with Mississippi State University to educate interested landowners on how they can earn credits for their trees.  

“The whole point is to get you to postpone a harvest that you were willing or ready to do right now, or there was some risk of that possibility,” explained MSU Extension forestry economist Shaun Tanger, who’s leading the public engagement effort. 

Tanger said the interest is taking off in Mississippi, where the timber market is a significant part of the economy relative to other states.

About 63% of the state is covered in forest, which feeds an industry valued at over a billion dollars annually, and which supplies products like lumber, poles and plywood. A 2008 MSU study found that the industry accounted for nearly one in ten jobs in the state.

“There’s an abundance of working forest relative to other parts of the country, and even some other states in the southeast,” Tanger said, adding that only maybe Alabama and Georgia compete with Mississippi’s timber supply and expertise. “We just do a really good job of growing trees here.” 

To participate, foresters – usually those with pine trees over at least a few dozen acres – have to defer harvesting for a year, and in exchange receive a credit based on the trees’ value, based on traits such as age and species, which help show the risk of them being harvested. Foresters can then auction those credits to companies looking to offset their own emissions, and usually receive between $5 to $20 per acre. 

Despite the low prices, Tanger said long-term the carbon market will induce competition, which is always good for business. That’s especially the case because there’s no shortage of of trees in the state or places to grow them, he explained. 

“The competition initially increases demand, and the supply is fixed,” he said. “But supply responds to demand, so longer term the outcome is going to be more trees on the landscape, because the mills are going to need the trees, the carbon exchanges are going to need the trees, and there’s a lot of acres that can be put into trees.”

More demand also leads to better management and thus a healthier forest, Tanger added, which leads to better carbon sequestration and other natural improvements, like to surrounding watersheds. 

Those interested can learn more by reaching out to the MSU Extension forestry program.

Carbon in the soil

The other growing carbon market is that for soil, which encourages farmers to adopt conservation practices on their land.

Compared to the timber market, though, the soil carbon market is the “wild, wild West,” said MSU Extension soil specialist Larry Oldham.

“We truly are in the pioneer phase of this,” Oldham said. He explained that there isn’t an exchange aimed at Mississippians like there is for timber, although there are farmers in the state earning carbon credits.

One company coordinating credits is Truterra, part of one of the largest farmer-run cooperatives in the country, Land O’ Lakes. Farmers interested can take a survey on Truterra’s website to see if they’re eligible and learn more about the program.

Sequestering carbon in soil centers on four main practices: keeping the soil covered as much as possible, decreasing tillage, rotating crops, and using cover crops, which protect the soil after the harvest. Those practices not only help retain carbon, but improve soil health in general as well. 

In order to receive credits, farmers must document that they’ve adopted those conservation techniques. Mississippi has been relatively slow to incorporate those practices, Oldham explained, which means a lot of farmers in the state could stand to benefit from the carbon market.

A downside, though, is that farmers who were already doing those practices for years wouldn’t qualify because they can’t document a change in their management. Farmers are also skeptical as to whether the payments, which are similar rates to those in the timber market, are worth making changes, Oldham said.

But carbon sequestration in soil has several long-term benefits, Oldham explained: improving soil health will help farms feed a growing population, and the same practices for storing carbon will also limit erosion and decrease the nutrient runoff in the water supply.  

The post New carbon markets in Mississippi pay landowners and farmers to reduce emissions appeared first on Mississippi Today.