The Cleveland boys catch up from the Holiday break with thoughts on Ole Miss and Mississippi State’s losses in their bowl games, bid farewell to several notable players who have opted for the draft and look ahead at the future of both programs. Rick and Tyler also give predictions for the national championship.
Stream all episodes here.
The post Podcast: Mississippi’s bowl game busts appeared first on Mississippi Today.
Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has tested positive for COVID-19 just one day into the 2022 legislative session, prompting concerns about an outbreak at the Capitol.
Hosemann, the Senate’s presiding officer, has no symptoms. He has been vaccinated and also received the booster shot, according to his office. Though Hosemann had no symptoms, he decided to get tested after learning he had come in contact with someone who tested positive for COVID-19.
Hosemann’s office is in the process of contacting people who he might have been exposed during the opening day of the 2022 legislative session on Tuesday, Jan. 4.
Those who were exposed include senators and many members of the media. Hosemann was seen without a mask on Tuesday speaking in close proximity with several prominent members of the Senate.
After the first day of the session concluded, Hosemann answered questions for about 20 minutes from members of the media in the crowded, small Capitol press room.
Senate Appropriations Chair Briggs Hopson, R-Vicksburg, also has tested positive. He also had the coronavirus previously.
Most people in the Capitol eschewed wearing masks on Tuesday, the opening day of a scheduled 90-day session. Lawmakers and staffers at the Capitol are under are no mask mandate.
House Clerk Andrew Ketchings said there is one House employee who has the virus, but that she has not been at the Capitol in recent days, since before testing positive. There are no other reports of House members or staffers testing positive.
The 74-year-old Republican previously contracted the coronavirus during the summer of 2020 while the Legislature was in session. House Speaker Philip Gunn also tested positive during that time period as did about 50 legislators and staffers.
That outbreak was one of at least two Capitol COVID-19 outbreaks since the pandemic began in early 2020.
Hosemann has spoken openly about the severity of his symptoms from his first coronavirus illness and has been outspoken in urging people to get vaccinated.
Hosemann’s office said he will quarantine for five days per guidelines from the state health officer and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The post Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann has COVID-19, prompting concerns about Capitol outbreak appeared first on Mississippi Today.
The omicron wave in Mississippi is in full-swing, with the Mississippi Department of Health reporting 4,840 new cases and 37 deaths on Tuesday. The state’s daily average for new infections has increased by more than sixfold over the past two weeks, from 577 to 4,100.
Mississippi has not seen such a sharp spike in new COVID-19 cases throughout the pandemic. The omicron variant is significantly more infectious than all previous variants of the virus, but evidence suggests that it causes less severe symptoms and illness.
Though hospitalization and death rates are lagging indicators, the increases in those outcomes have been far less pronounced thus far in the omicron wave. Over the past two weeks the number of COVID-19 patients in ICU’s has increased nearly 107%. The number of patients on ventilators has increased 54%.
“The number of patients with COVID-19 in ICU care has not risen in this recent surge at the same rate as the increase in the overall patient count and, for the most part, the severity of COVID-19-related cases – including in the ICU – is less severe than in previous surges,” Marc Rolph, executive director of communications and marketing at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, said in an email statement.
Though Mississippi hospitals have not yet been overwhelmed like they were during the delta wave last year, patients seeking care at hospitals or at home will see their options limited due to the national shortage of monoclonal antibody treatments and antiviral pills.
Only one of the three monoclonal antibody treatments approved for use in the United States, sotrovimab, has been shown to be effective against omicron in lab tests. Mississippi received just 283 doses of this treatment this week.
Mississippi also received 270 doses of the Ely Lilly monoclonals and 336 doses of REGEN-COV monoclonals. Though neither of these treatments are effective against omicron, MSDH still recommends they be utilized while the delta variant is still present in the state.
Mississippi is also set to receive a limited supply of two antiviral medications that can be used to treat COVID-19 in an outpatient setting: Molnupiravir and Paxlovid. In clinical trials, the former has demonstrated a 30% reduction in severe illness while the latter showed an 89% reduction.
MSDH anticipates the state will receive additional allocations of these drugs in mid-January, but fewer than 3,000 doses have been allocated to Mississippi thus far.
State Health Officer Dr. Thomas Dobbs said on Tuesday that the limited supply of monoclonals and antivirals will be primarily distributed to MSDH’s 48 COVID Center of Excellence partners, and their use will be targeted to those at the highest risk for severe outcomes, such as people 65 and older and people with compromised immune symptoms.
“We’ve always said that monoclonals are Plan B and the vaccine is Plan A, and you don’t want to rely on your backup plan when Plan A is still an option,” Dobbs said during a press conference last week.
The unvaccinated still make up the vast majority of new COVID-19 cases, hospitalizations and deaths across the state. Between Dec. 7 and Jan. 3, unvaccinated Mississippians made up 98% of cases, 88% of hospitalizations and 72% of deaths.
Health experts across the state and nation are in nearly universal agreement that the best method for protection against omicron is getting fully vaccinated, and then a booster dose if you’re eligible. With only 49% of residents fully vaccinated, Mississippi is still lagging behind most of the country in vaccinations.
Over 446,000 Mississippians have received third or booster doses, and another segment of the population will likely be eligible to receive them soon.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved the use of COVID-19 booster shots of the Pfizer vaccine in 12-to-15-year-olds on Monday.
“Based on the FDA’s assessment of currently available data, a booster dose of the currently authorized vaccines may help provide better protection against both the delta and omicron variants,” Dr. Peter Marks, director of the agency’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, said in a statement. “In particular, the omicron variant appears to be slightly more resistant to the antibody levels produced in response to the primary series doses from the current vaccines.”
The FDA also reduced the period of time fully vaccinated people have to wait before getting a booster dose of the Pfizer vaccine from six months to five months. If a person wants a Moderna booster, they still have to wait the full six months.
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention must still approve these new policies for them to go into effect. A decision could come soon after a CDC advisory panel meets later this week.
The post As omicron rages through Mississippi, treatments are in short supply appeared first on Mississippi Today.
House Speaker Philip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann seem to agree on the issues that need to be addressed during the 2022 legislative session, but the devil might be in the details of how those items are resolved.
The two presiding officers offered few specifics Tuesday — the opening day of the 2022 legislative session — but said they anticipate taking up taxes, providing teachers a significant pay raise and reenacting medical marijuana after the voter initiative legalizing medical marijuana was struck down this past May by the state Supreme Court.
In terms of quick action, both indicated that the plan to redraw the state’s four congressional districts to adhere to population shifts gleaned from the 2020 U.S. Census might be one of the first items taken up. The quick action is needed because the deadline to qualify to seek one of the four House districts is March 1.
READ MORE: The top issues lawmakers could address in the 2022 legislative session
Here’s what Gunn and Hosemann said about key issues after they adjourned for the day on Jan. 4.
“Candidly, that is not a top issue for us (the House),” Gunn said of medical marijuana.
“That is something the Senate is taking the lead on and we don’t have a bill. We’ll have to see what the Senate passes — we’ll just have to wait and see,” Gunn said.
Asked about Reeves’ opposition to allowing patients to receive up to 3.5 grams of cannabis a day, Gunn said: “We certainly have been trying to move it into a more conservative direction. The House has taken the position that we want it to be as close to a true medical program as we can get it.”
Hosemann said Tuesday additional committee hearings will be held on the issue and it is likely that the fall agreement reached by House and Senate leaders will face some changes.
On Tuesday, the Mississippi Cannabis Patients Alliance held a rally on the steps of the Capitol, urging lawmakers to reinstate a medical marijuana program — after voters approved it, but the state Supreme Court shot it down.
Hosemann did not offer any details, but discounted the possibility of passing a bill similar to the one proposed last year by Gunn. That bill would have phased out the personal income tax, reduced by half the 7% tax on groceries and increased the sales tax on most other retail items by 2.5 cents for each $1 purchase.
“I anticipate the Senate will have a tax relief bill,” Hosemann said. “We were not persuaded by a tax swap. We want tax relief.”
Gunn said some “tweaks” will be offered to his proposal, but that it remains his top priority.
“We believe we have a solid plan,” Gunn said. “We believe there is no downside to putting money back into the pockets of Mississippians.”
Gov. Tate Reeves also has criticized Gunn’s plan as a “tax swap” and said he oppose increasing sales and other taxes.
Gunn said: “There have been some misrepresentations made about that bill. It is not a tax increase. It is a net tax deduction, reduction … We are not married to our proposal, but unfortunately, no one else has come forward with an idea. We don’t want a mere token to check the box to say we passed some sort of tax reform. We want something that puts real dollars back into the pockets of Mississippians.”
Gunn said the House will have a teacher pay raise proposal, but would not specify the amount or details.
“You’ll see it when we bring it out, but I think it’s going to be a very good plan,” Gunn said.
Hosemann said he anticipates the Senate will support a teacher pay increase proposal larger than the roughly $1,000 salary hike approved by the Legislature in the 2021 session.
He also said that plan could be unveiled this week if Senate Education Chair Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, releases his teacher pay bill as expected.
Both Hosemann and Gunn advocated for reenacting the initiative process where voters can gather a mandated number of signatures to place issues on the ballot. That process was struck down when the state Supreme Court ruled invalid the medical marijuana initiative.
Both said they would prefer the process be used to amend general law and not the state Constitution. They both pointed out that when items are placed in the Constitution, they are more difficult to change or remove.
“I think that is too inflexible for us,” Hosemann said of initiatives to amend the Constitution.
“You have to have the ability to tweak things as circumstances change,” Gunn said.
It is not clear, Hosemann said, that citizens would have to vote to reenact the initiative process if it is going to be used just to amend general law and not the Constitution. He said research is being conducted on whether that could be done by a simple act of the Legislature.
“I just don’t think that Medicaid expansion is realistic,” Gunn said. “Personally, I’m not for it. I’ve been very clear that I’m against it. I don’t see that as a way forward in Mississippi. We need to be looking for ways to get people off Medicaid, not put them on Medicaid. But the bottom line is it’s all an academic discussion until you’ve got the votes, and I don’t think the votes exist.”
Hosemann continues to refuse to utter the phase medical expansion, which is allowed under federal law to provide health care coverage to primarily the working poor. But he continues to say he supports the working poor having access to health care. He even referenced an instance where a woman working as a store clerk died of cancer because she could not afford health care, leaving two children and a husband who is a mechanic.
Hosemann said similar tragedies occur throughout the state because of the lack of health care access.
Asked if there will be an effort this session to enhance health care access to poor Mississippians, Hosemann said, “We are working on it for as soon as we can do it.”
The post Marijuana, taxes, teacher pay: Where top leaders stand on major 2022 legislative issues appeared first on Mississippi Today.
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.
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.
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:
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
