Gray: Speaker Gunn’s leadership saved charter schools.

Speaker Gunn did show on one central issue in this session a bit more flexibility than is often the case these days in our polarized legislative bodies. He wanted a broader, more sweeping charter school bill than the Legislature eventually approved. But he gauged the membership and knew what was possible.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves and the Senate wanted more than the House was willing to give. Gunn made the matter a simple choice: Do you want to get something passed, or do want to go down in flames with your purity of purpose intact?

Lawmaking is about compromise and consensus, the speaker preached – a sentiment that used to be self-evident but that has given way to insistence on all-or-nothing in so many circumstances.

Gunn was insistent that the charter school legislation that emerged from House-Senate negotiations could actually pass the House. That meant he and other charter school supporters didn’t get everything they wanted, but they got much more than they would have otherwise. Legislative compromise – what a concept.

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• Breaking: Compromise charter schools bill passes House, heads to Senate. (mississippipep.wordpress.com)
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• Senate agrees to House version of charter schools, full vote ahead. (mississippipep.wordpress.com)
• Proposed New Charter School Will Foster Cultural and Language Learning (prweb.com)
• Young Talks Charter Schools (wtok.com)

Senator Videt Carmichael delivers legislative news at Meridian meeting.

Carmichael said he would like to see the end of inventory taxes, but that’s not likely to happen any time soon.

“Right now we have a lot of our cities and our counties and other entities who depend upon those dollars so we can’t just all of a sudden do without it unless we have a funding source,” Carmichael said.

The senator also touted changes to the Mississippi Worker’s Compensation laws, saying that the Legislature essentially tweaked it, making changes to the pre-existing conditions portions of the law, clarification of payments to attorneys, better definitions and restrictions of employees’ choices of physicians, stronger measures against workforce drug and alcohol use, and a slight increase in benefits.

During a question and answer session with Kiwanians, Carmichael said he didn’t know what the state was going to do with regard to Medicaid as it relates to the Affordable Health Care Act. He said Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney has taken some heat for his health care exchange program.

“I think what he’s doing is trying to be ready in case we have to do it because if we keep on with Obamacare as we know it,” Carmichael said, “each state will have to have a health care exchange and if you don’t do it as a state, the feds will come in and do it for you. I don’t think we want them controlling our health care exchange, if we have to have one.”

When asked about the possibility of an Internet sales tax, Carmichael said it has been considered, but no one has come up with a solution yet.

What was a contentious debate during the last legislative session, the issue of charter schools, also prompted questions from the audience.

Carmichael said the Mississippi Senate has passed charter school legislation for five consecutive years, but has not been able to hammer out a compromise with the House of Representatives.

“I think there’s a place for charter schools,” Carmichael said. “Anything that we can do to give parents an opportunity to help to better their children if they’re in a situation in a school that’s not working, to give them another choice.”

via Senator delivers budget news » Local News » Meridian Star.

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Mississippi Trial Lawyer advocates taxing internet purchases to participate in ObamaCare Medicaid expansion, shore up PERS system.

BY: B. Keith Plunkett

Philip Thomas, a Jackson trial lawyer, advocates raising taxes in Mississippi to pay for ObamaCare’s Medicaid expansion. He also would use the money to help solve the financial problems of the Public Employee Retirement System.

He writes of ObamaCare expansion:

Gov. Phil Bryant and other Mississippi Republican leaders oppose accepting the Medicaid expansion in the Affordable Care Act because the State can’t afford it. The expansion would provide healthcare coverage to an additional 250,000–400,000 Mississippians. That’s on top of the 600,000 Mississippians covered by the program now.

The federal government will pick up 100% of the costs at first, and 90% of the costs after 3 years. Mississippi’s 10% share would be $160 million per year. In return for the $160 million, hundreds of thousands of Mississippians would receive healthcare.

In addition, billions of federal dollars would enter the state’s economy to pay for that health care. And this money would not benefit the economy of just a few areas the way casinos and auto manufacturing plants have. There are hospitals and nursing homes in every community that would have more money to pay employees if Medicaid expands. This sounds like a great investment to me, if Mississippi can figure out how to pay for it.

After spending $160 million of the estimated $303 million in revenue generated from raising taxes on internet purchases, Thomas says he would spend the rest of the money on the PERS system:

Mississippi should use whatever is needed from the rest of internet sales tax collections to fix the State’s Public Employees’ Retirement System (PERS) when it blows up. And it’s going to blow up.

In an article back in October 2011 over proposals in the state legislature by Republican Representatives Mark Formby and Jessica Upshaw to study an internet sales tax, I wrote this:

If brick and mortar shops want to compete with internet sales then they need to move with the market. Not try to have legislators hold back the progress of others so that they can compete.

Of course, Thomas isn’t advocating legislating fairness to businesses who don’t move with the times. He’s advocating sucker punching Mississippi’s consumers in order to pay for more big government and entitlement spending. Either way, it’s meddlesome government engineering and should be rejected.

Whether Republican or Democrat, Trial lawyer or business person, raising taxes on consumers or businesses is regressive, and it’s bad policy.

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Bill Minor: Lt. Governor’s office power is given by Senate, not constitution.

Essentially, the Taylor-Hale lawsuit sought to confine the lieutenant governor to functions in the executive branch of government as provided in the state constitution and strip him of broad powers in the legislative branch traditionally given under procedural rules adopted by the Senate.

Section 129 of the constitution only give the lieutenant governor power to preside over Senate sessions and vote in case of a tie.

Only by procedural rules adopted by the Senate at the beginning of each new legislative term has the lieutenant governor customarily been given power to appoint chairmen, vice-chairmen, and members of standing committees, and refer bills to committees for consideration. Although the Taylor-Hale case was decided 25 years ago by the state’s highest court, its outcome still controls how the Senate functions structurally.

Thus, it’s important for Mississippians to understand that when Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves recently announced his Senate committee appointments (Rules Committee the only exception) and begin deciding which committees will handle newly-introduced bills, he was operating solely under Senate rules, not any state law or constitutional provision.

A concern I raised in Dye’s heyday was that under the state’s hybrid system, the No. 2 officer could promote his own legislative program independent of the governor. That situation may well happen in the current administration because the ambitious Tate Reeves is known to be politically and personally distant from Gov. Phil Bryant.

We have some interesting days ahead up on Mississippi’s Capitol Hill.

via ‘Sen. Hale’ not the one who challenged Lt. Gov. Dye | The Clarion-Ledger | clarionledger.com.

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2012 legislative session begins

The gavels came down at noon Tuesday followed by the oath of office for the men and women who will craft legislation and lead the state of Mississippi for the next four years.

With opening day of the 2012 legislative session comes a lot of formalities, but lawmakers also know there’s going to be a lot of work in the coming months.

via 2012 legislative session begins – WLBT 3 – Jackson, MS:.

Senator Bob Dearing looks back on 31 year legislative career.

NATCHEZ — When Bob Dearing was a freshman senator he received a call from a reporter asking why he hadn’t cast a vote on an important piece of legislation while it was still in committee. Dearing replied that he wasn’t a member of the committee but the reporter protested, saying he had seen Dearing cast votes in the committee before. “I told him, ‘Oh, those are only raise your hand votes,’” Dearing said.

The committee in question, appropriations, only had room for 21 members, which meant that many senators — especially the freshmen, who hadn’t paid their proper legislative dues — were forced to sit it out.

That didn’t stop Dearing from attending the meetings, or — from time to time — casting voice or hand votes.

“I attended the finance and appropriations (committee) meetings to see which one I wanted to be on,” he said.“The chairman told me, ‘You’ve got better attendance than any member I have.’”

That was more than 30 years ago.

http://www.natchezdemocrat.com/2011/12/31/dearing-faces-first-year-since-1980-without-jackson-job/

MPB to preview 2012 legislative session on Dec. 28.

Mississippi Public Broadcasting will air “Difficult Work Ahead: The 2012 Legislative Session” on Dec. 28 at 7 p.m. on MPB TV. The program will give viewers a preview of the top issues awmakers have to tackle during the 2012 legislative session.

Legislators, agency leaders and political analysts will examine the balance of power in the House and Senate, discuss the redistricting battle between the two legislative bodies and explain how lawmakers will look for ways to trim the budget and fund state government.

http://www.clintonnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20111222/LIFE/112220313/MPB+to+air+program+preview+of+2012+Legislative+session

Legislators crowd the Capitol to prep for 2012 session

http://www.clarionledger.com/article/20111207/NEWS/112070347/New-legislators-learning-ropes?odyssey=mod%7Cnewswell%7Ctext%7CHome%7Cs

Mississippi Highway to be dedicated to former Greene County Legislator

http://m.therepublic.com/view/story/473069cd092444f084018db92a8d74e3/

MCC Hosts Legislative Luncheon

Image by Ken Lund via Flickr

The Mississippi Legislature goes back to work in January. It’s expected to be another tough budget year, so better funding for anyone may be difficult. But Tuesday, Meridian Community College gave it its best shot.

Dozens of government leaders from across our area were at an MCC luncheon to hear firsthand how local community colleges have progressed and what officials say needs to be done to help them grow even more.

Dr. Scott Elliott, president of Meridian Community College, says the purpose of the annual legislative luncheon is to provide government leaders in our area with a state of the college report.

Leaders got a report of how the school is performing across the curriculum and were made aware of issues with funding and other challenges the school is facing.

Elliott says a bill has been passed in the state legislature that seeks to provide mid-level funding for community colleges.

“And what we we’re telling our legislators is we’re about $2,600 per student away from that,” said Elliott. “Hopefully as money becomes available and the economy improves in Mississippi, then community colleges will be funded better by the legislature.”

Participants also discussed capital improvements, discussing issues in the community college system in terms of the need to build new facilities to facilitate growth.

“And to keep up existing facilities, renovations and improvements,” said Elliott. “And the money that would be needed to make that happen across the state.”

via MCC Hosts Legislative Luncheon.

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