IHL task force quietly studying Mississippi internet tax for consideration in 2014 session.

A state task force is quietly taking a hard look at the pros and cons of forcing Internet retailers to comply with a Mississippi law that mandates they collect sales taxes on items they sell online to buyers in the state.

A key question is whether taxing cyber sales is a true pot of gold at the end of the rainbow or a big hassle not worth the expense, as a State of Maryland study concluded in 2011.

How much Mississippi is losing in tax revenues is a big question without a consensus answer. Some studies put the range at between $40 million and $200 million, while a survey cited in an April Associated Press story tagged the cyber revenue loss at $616 million.

Bob Neal, a senior state economist with the Institutes of Higher Learning, has not seen any figure with which he is comfortable. He said he thinks the $40 million may be too low and the $200 million too high. “I am not any more confident in either number, to tell you the truth,” Neal noted.

He has brought the task force together but is unsure its work will produce any sort of revenue projection. “The task force is exploring what is the situation and, frankly, is it an addressable issue,” he said.

He said Tuesday the task force made up of economists, state officials and private sector representatives is in its infancy but plans to complete its work before the next legislative session.

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Medicaid Poll: What would you like to see happen?

Have Medicaid fatigue yet? What would you like to see happen as the deadline of July 1 approaches?

Below the poll are a few of the latest Medicaid articles and there is a podcast to the right of this post with Senator Melanie Sojourner on the subject. Comments are welcome.

Related articles

• GUNN: Government cannot create prosperity.
• BROWN: Democrats proposal expands health insurance to Mississippians with reduced risks to the state.
• PLUNKETT: Dems latest Medicaid proposal: A lemon by any other name.
• PEP Talk Podcast: Dr. Randy Easterling discusses the pressure of Medicaid expansion on Mississippi’s doctors.
• Ethics Commission vote clears way for Medicaid special session.
• HARRISON: Lt. Gov. Reeves may be on Medicaid hot seat.
• Mississippi Democrats and Republicans restate the obvious in dueling resolutions on Medicaid. (mississippipep.wordpress.com)
• Race-based study group attempts to sway states on Medicaid expansion with polling data. (mississippipep.wordpress.com)

BROWN: Democrats proposal expands health insurance to Mississippians with reduced risks to the state.

BY: Cecil Brown

Democrats in the legislature recently offered a compromise proposal to end the standoff on Medicaid expansion. Under our proposal, Mississippi would adopt Republican Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney’s idea for a state based health insurance exchange. We will then use the billions of new federal dollars we will receive under the Affordable Care Act (ObamaCare) to allow the 300,000 working Mississippians who are currently uninsured and whose income is less than 138% of the federal poverty level to purchase individual private sector health insurance policies through the insurance exchange.

There are a number of advantages to this proposal. First, it answers the question of what happens if the federal government reneges on its promise to pay 100% of the cost of Medicaid expansion for the first 3 years and as much as 90% in subsequent years. The answer is simple. If that happens, the insurance premiums don’t get paid and the individuals’ coverage ends. There is no ongoing cost to the state.

Secondly, the bulk of the administrative cost of the new program is borne by the private insurance companies who write the policies. The law specifically allows the health insurance exchange to charge a fee to cover these costs.

Third, the program will bring competition into the equation. Assuming multiple insurance companies participate, as they have in other states, the newly insured will be able to choose insurance coverage to meet their specific needs. There will be no one size fits all package as there is with the Medicaid program.

Fourth, such an arrangement eliminates the problem of “churning” – the situation where an individual’s income is below the 138% threshold in some years and above it in others. (A self-employed person, for example.) Under this plan the newly covered will have private sector insurance policies that can be retained regardless of income. In years where his or her income is below the 138% threshold, the premiums will be paid by the new federal money. In other years, the individual could pay the premium with whatever assistance is offered under other provisions of the Affordable Care Act.

Finally, because these 300,000 relatively low income Mississippians will have private health insurance, the incidence of uncompensated health care will be substantially lowered. Instead of using emergency rooms for primary care, they will be able to use private physicians. Instead of not being able to afford preventive care, they will be able to have annual physical exams and other preventive measure. Instead of writing off the cost of expensive procedures because they cannot collect, hospitals will be paid under the individual insurance policies.

Our choices are clear. We can refuse to participate in any way and leave 300,000 working Mississippians without health insurance, devastate our hospitals as their federal funds are cut and lose the opportunity to grow our health care economy with the estimated 9,000 new private sector jobs such a plan will create. Or we can accept this compromise proposal which will allow Mississippi taxpayers to benefit from the billions of federal dollars that are available to us through the Affordable Care Act, improve the health care opportunities for 300, 000 of our fellow Mississippians and create thousands of new private sector jobs.

This plan will require legislation and approval by the federal department of Health and Human Services (HHS). We have met with HHS and feel very good about our chance of receiving their approval. However, the first step is for the state to adopt the plan. Democrats look forward to working with our Republican colleagues and the Governor in crafting the details of the plan in a special legislative session before the end of June.

Rep. Cecil Brown is a Democrat serving portions of Hinds County in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

Mississippi may have more money in FY 2014.

House Appropriations Chair Herb Frierson, R-Poplarville, said the state is poised to end the fiscal year later this month with a “substantial” surplus, based on May tax collections.

For May, the state collected $170.9 million, or 44.5 percent, more than the amount the state’s fiscal leaders projected would be collected. Those official projections were used during the 2012 legislative session to fund state government for the current fiscal year.

“It will probably be substantial,” Frierson said of the ending cash balance due to revenue exceeding projections. “Just guessing, without my spreadsheets in front of me, it might be $300 million.”

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SALTER: AG Hood’s ruling on new gun law strikes common sense balance.

No government ruling on guns ever wins universal praise, but Hood – a serious outdoorsman and a former district attorney who has more than a passing acquaintance with both guns and violent crime – does a good job in this ruling of striking a common sense balance between respecting guns rights and public safety.

Open carry advocates generally fared well in this ruling, but then so did those concerned about people packing in volatile venues like university campuses, schools, athletic events, and government buildings. So, too, did private property owners who want to maintain some control of the liability they accept on their property.

The group most likely to have problems with this opinion is law enforcement officers, for the simple reason that it allows more law-abiding citizens to legally be on the streets of Mississippi with weapons and it allows them to do so without fear of much interference from the police. That, based on the laws passed in recent years, is clearly the will of the majority of the Legislature.

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GUNN: Government cannot create prosperity.

BY: Philip Gunn

The Democratic leadership in the Mississippi House of Representatives made a decision during the 2013 regular legislative session to vote against appropriating funds for the current Medicaid program twice. Additionally, they voted twice against reauthorizing the technical bill that gives guidelines for operating Medicaid. They did all of this under the guise of wanting to vote on expansion. I said on the day that they did this, and I will say it again today: This is misguided and irresponsible.

Because of the Democratic leadership’s actions, we are faced with shutting down a program that provides health care for those who are elderly, blind and too young to take care of themselves. To use these individuals as pawns is reckless. The Republicans in the House supported reauthorizing and funding the current program four times.

I do not support the expansion of government in any fashion. Expanding government and ultimately raising taxes to pay for it is not how I believe government should operate.

Expansion of the Mississippi Division of Medicaid under Obamacare is a massive expansion of government. Expansion would place an additional 300,000 Mississippians into a health care system paid for by the federal and state levels of government. Passing tax increases or cutting vital government services such as education, corrections, mental health or public safety is the only way to pay for this expansion. There is no other choice.

It is projected that Medicaid expansion would cost the state of Mississippi somewhere in the neighborhood of an additional $1 billion between now and 2020. As it stands right now, the Legislature struggles every year to make our budget work. There is no way we can responsibly expand Medicaid knowing that our state cannot and will not be able afford it. By refusing to expand the Medicaid program, we are protecting the state’s budget from future changes that will come down from Washington in the form of unfunded mandates. State leaders cannot assume that the federal government will pay 90 percent of the costs for the new enrollees.

Beyond the projected costs to the state’s budget, we continue to receive information from Washington about implementation and misconceptions surrounding Obamacare. It concerns me that the impacts of the federal sequestration cuts are beginning to trickle down into Mississippi’s economy. This will certainly have an impact on budget writers in the 2014 legislative session. We clearly do not have all the facts needed to make a sound financial decision regarding Medicaid expansion.

No one can deny that we do have a health care problem in our country and state. With increasing health care costs, we need reform to ensure that health care is affordable. However, simply having the government pick up the tab is not an option for me.

The discussion we need to have should focus on how we solve the health care dilemma with innovation and private sector involvement. Sure, the easiest thing would be for the government only to pay for people who don’t currently have insurance, but what does that say to those who don’t fall into the qualifying economic brackets? Our state has many hardworking folks who give it their best shot every day to do what is right. They do not want to add to the burden of the state. These people need help, too. Should we just add them on the government plan as well? Where does expansion stop?

Given that the Democratic leadership made this ill-advised move during the session, they have now come forward with an alternative plan to expand Medicaid in our state. It looks much like the Arkansas plan, and it touts “free money” to fund the program. There is never free money when it comes to government programs. Who do you think pays for free government programs? It’s simple, the taxpayers.

We are at a pivotal point in the history of our country. We can have a limited government that encourages innovation and economic prosperity from the private sector, which I support, or we can have a more robust government that says bureaucrats dictate the answers. We cannot have both.

I will continue to stand on the side of smaller government and lower taxes. I will also continue to stand on the side of entrepreneurs and hardworking Mississippians who want to stand on their own two feet. I encourage our citizens to work hard to find prosperity and to not turn to the government to find it. Government cannot create prosperity; government can only help create an environment where people can succeed.

Philip Gunn is Speaker of the Mississippi House of Representatives.

Ethics Commission vote clears way for Medicaid special session.

In a 5-3 vote, the state Ethics Commission cleared six Republican lawmakers who had potential conflicts of interest to vote on Medicaid funding, reauthorization and against expanding the program on Friday morning.

Gov. Phil Bryant and the legislative GOP leadership hope the lawmakers – who had abstained from voting because they work for Medicaid providers – will give them enough votes to end a legislative stalemate that threatens to shut Medicaid down July 1.

The six GOP House members who didn’t vote and requested Ethics opinions are: Donnie Bell, who does PR for a hospice provider; Bubba Carpenter, a paramedic; Becky Currie, a nurse for a home-health company; Mac Huddleston, a veterinarian who’s married to a doctor; Sam Mims, who does marketing for a regional health firm; and Margaret Rogers, whose father is a retired doctor.

An Ethics opinion doesn’t bind a lawmaker, but following it would provide them legal cover. Failing to follow an opinion’s advice could set them up for legal action and fines from the commission or courts.

The Ethics ruling appears to contradict one from 2012, which said lawmakers who work for private Medicaid providers should not vote on Medicaid funding and regulations.

But supporters of Friday’s ruling said it matches one from 2005, which allows lawmakers whose spouses or other family members are teachers to vote on education issues and funding.

And a state Supreme Court ruling from 2002 said two lawmakers who were pharmacists and received money from Medicaid could vote on the program.

Ethics Director Tom Hood and Ethics Commission Chairman Ben Stone noted before Friday’s vote that ruling against the lawmakers voting on Medicaid would require the commission to go back and do the same for lawmakers with family members who are educators.

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PENDER: Ethics Commission may decide today if 6 lawmakers allowed to cast vote for Medicaid.

The state Ethics Commission has issued many opinions over the years about lawmakers with health care jobs voting on Medicaid. They’re all over the map because the particulars of each lawmaker’s case are different. But in general terms, the rulings have trended that those who work for public hospitals and providers can vote on Medicaid; those working for private companies cannot.

GOP leaders argue that none of the six lawmakers are owners or high officers of the companies for which they or their families work and wouldn’t see any direct personal benefit from voting on Medicaid.

They also note that a court ruling trumps an Ethics opinion and point to a 2002 state Supreme Court ruling. That ruling said that state Reps. Bobby Howell of Kilmichael, a pharmacist, could vote on Medicaid, overturning a lower court ruling. The high court noted that the state Legislature doesn’t set or control Medicaid payments to providers, the federal government does.

State Ethics Director Tom Hood said the commission will take the court ruling into account, but noted the issue is difficult and gets into “uncharted water.”

“They have to look at what will happen if such a bill passes and what would happen if a bill doesn’t pass — and nobody really knows what will happen if (Medicaid is not reauthorized),” Hood said. “Avoiding a loss can be the same as receiving a benefit. If it didn’t pass, how would that affect their employer? That’s a really hard question to answer.”

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Mississippi is open carry state, law enforcement “going to have to deal with it.”

Mississippi sheriffs can ban people from openly carrying guns into courthouses, state Attorney General Jim Hood said in a legal opinion Thursday.

Hood issued the document in anticipation of a law that starts July 1. The opinion clarifies that people may openly carry guns in Mississippi without a concealed weapon permit. Some people had previously interpreted state law to say people couldn’t carry a visible gun on the streets without a permit.

Attorney general’s opinions aren’t legally binding, although they provide legal protection to officials who follow them.

Deputy Attorney General Mike Lanford, writing for Hood, said courthouses are “the scene of emotionally charged disputes such as child custody battles, criminal prosecutions, property forfeitures, tax sales, etc.” He wrote that a ban on openly-carried guns “is reasonably tailored to serve the governmental interest in preserving security for courthouse proceedings and personnel.”

The opinion reaffirms that private property owners can prohibit guns and says guns remain illegal on school and college campuses. It also says that police officers can approach people carrying guns in public and ask them questions, such as if they are a convicted felon banned from carrying guns, but said that people don’t have to answer.

Rick Ward of Brandon, a concealed weapon permit instructor, was among the advocates of the bill. He attended a Wednesday meeting of law enforcement officers to discuss the law, and said he believes many police chiefs and sheriffs are hostile to it.

“We are now an open-carry state,” Ward said. “They are just going to have to deal with it.”

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Rep. George Flaggs to resign Mississippi House June 30.

Democrat George Flaggs says he’ll resign from the Mississippi House on June 30, the same day he’s being inaugurated as the new mayor of Vicksburg.

Flaggs has served in the Legislature since 1988. He was elected mayor June 4 and will succeed Paul Winfield, a Democrat who has served one term at City Hall.

After Flaggs leaves the House, Gov. Phil Bryant will call a special election to fill the seat for District 55, which is entirely in Warren County.

House Speaker Philip Gunn, a Republican from Clinton, will officiate at Flaggs’ swearing-in as mayor. The ceremony is set for 6 p.m. June 30 at Vicksburg City Auditorium.

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