Mississippi Moronocracy–The Good

The yearly exercise in futility is nearly over, the legislative session, and time to rate it.  For those of us who actually watch this saga unfold day after day, it can either make you angry or so confused that you go out and talk to fire plugs.

This was the title of an opinion piece I wrote for a now defunct newspaper, the Gulfport Star-Journal, and I thought that it was worth a resurrection.  These are bills that the state legislature considered in the most recent session.  The bills that I considered the GOOD, the BAD and the UGLY.  Some made through the process, others did not.  Some were a complete waste of time, some had promise.   This will be a three part post.

THE GOOD:

HB 120– Create a Civil Rights Museum

HB345–Compensation for wrongful incarceration

HB351–Create Civil Rights Division within the AG’s office

HC 5–study of the state tax system–this never goes anywhere.

SB2309–compulsory school attendence–something desperately needed

SB2321–Prohibit texting and cel use while driving–another much needed law

SB2346–prohibit predatory mortgage practices

These were not all the measures taken up by the state legislature, but these were the ones that had a lot of promise to help the state move into the 21st century.  Sadly, many did not make it….and the state stays at the bottom of the pile.

Eminent Domain Is Dead

At least for now.  Gov. Barbour has vetoed the bill, where will the legislature go from here?

The bill would not have restricted the government’s use of eminent domain for public use, including drainage, utilities or colleges and universities.

Barbour has said the bill is “fatally flawed,” and that property owners can go to court to fight government seizures, however the bill passed the Republican-majority Senate unanimously, with only three House votes against it. That high rate of approval among the legislature may hand Barbour his first veto override, as the Jackson Free Press reported earlier this month,

“The U.S. Supreme Court says they can take your property and turn it over to a developer and use the commercial property to get more taxes out of it, but eminent domain should be used only when it’s absolutely necessary,” said Public Property Committee Chairman Jack Gordon, D-Okolona, when the bill was sent to the governor earlier this month. “I heard (Barbour) may veto it, but it’s a House bill and I think the House would override it, and I’m sure the Senate would override it on that issue too, because it passed with an overwhelming vote.”

Is This Really Necessary?

If there is surplus food then there has to be a bill to allow the donation to chartiable organizations.  Is that necessary?  Does permission needed to be given by the state to donate the food?

Senate bill SB 2746 states:

AN ACT TO AUTHORIZE THE UNIVERSITY OF MISSISSIPPI MEDICAL CENTER TO DONATE SURPLUS FOOD TO CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS; TO AUTHORIZE THE STATE DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH TO ALLOW PERMITTED RESTAURANTS AND FOOD ESTABLISHMENTS TO DONATE SURPLUS FOOD TO CHARITABLE ORGANIZATIONS AND INDIVIDUALS; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

Just another waste of time or is it that the government has to be involved in every aspect of life?  Do you mean that before this bill the Center was just throwing their excess food away?  This is your government hope it is the dream group that you always thought it to be.

Searching Public Records

The Sun-Herald recently had a very good editiorial on the high cost of searching public records.

Mississippians should not have to pay unrealistically high fees to find out what public officials and agencies are doing.

To prevent that from happening, both House Bill 1048 and Senate Bill 2921 would improve access to public records by restricting what can be charged to fulfill public records requests. Although the law already limits the fee for copies of public records to “actual costs,” that cost is sometimes inflated by public officials who charge exorbitant pay rates for the person doing the copying or who hire expensive outside consultants to fulfill the public records request, according to Barbara Powell, a lobbyist for the Mississippi Center for Freedom of Information.

The Legislature can and should prohibit these inflated charges by restricting the labor fee to persons who are employees of the public agency and by requiring that any staff time included in the cost be at the pay scale of the lowest level employee competent to assemble the response to the request.

SB 2921 passed the Senate’s Judiciary B Committee but was killed on the Senate floor. By approving HB 1048, the senators on the committee can give their colleagues an opportunity to reconsider the matter.

As Powell points out: Ten states limit the cost of producing documents to copying costs alone. And Louisiana specifically forbids the government from charging anything for producing a public record unless the request requires that the custodian of the record make the record available after normal business hours.

Mississippians should be encouraged, not hindered, in their efforts to find out what public officials and their employees are doing.

HB 1139–Task Force On Teen Pregnancy

Oh God how long must we. as residents of Mississippi enduring this type of BS?  And how many years have the legislature put forth such utter BS?  Time after time someone some where thinks it would be a good idea to find out why teens are having more babies in this state than in others.

HB 1139 states:

AN ACT TO CREATE THE TEEN PREGNANCY TASK FORCE TO STUDY AND MAKE RECOMMENDATION TO THE LEGISLATURE ON THE COORDINATION OF SERVICES TO REDUCE TEEN PREGNANCY AND PROVIDE PRENATAL AND POSTNATAL TRAINING TO EXPECTANT TEEN PARENTS IN MISSISSIPPI; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

Does extreme poverty have anything to do with it?  How about the low living standards?  How about the fact that education is a low priority in Mississippi?

Looks really good on a political resume that one pushed for this and that, but in reality this is going nowhere just like every other good idea in the state.  Every session these guys and gals introduce some very good bills and every year they go down in defeat….now I ask, is it because they are needed or to pad their resumes?

Do You Really Want To Know?

What your representatives in Jackson are doing, that is……since I am a political and economical geek …I spent part of yesterday go over the bill status report……you will not believe the number of bills that died in committee!  A rough estimate on my part is about 60% of bills offerd up this session have died in committee (not an official count).

Looking over the list of failed bills I lost count of the number of seperate bills pertaining to ATVs, everything from titles, to helmets, to people,  to……but my favorite was the 4, count them 4 seperate bills on cel phone usage while driving,  Why so many?  Why cannot one bill be made that covers everything everyone wants about cel phones?  Or ATVs for that matter?  How much time wasted or taxpayer money wasted playing these damn silly little games?

And then there is the state senate that also has cel phone usage bills that died (sorry forgot to count).  More wasted time and money.  Why?  All this reinforces my desire to see this become a unicameral system.  Maybe then the guys and gals in Jackson would actually get something accomplished in their normal 90 day session.

What is it all for?  The benefit of the people?  Or possible to pad their resumes when they go back to the districts and run for re-election?  Do you think that we are getting our money’s worth out of the guys and gals in Jackson?

FYI, yesterday 04 Feb 09, the Mississippi Senate spent most of their time patting someone on the back for something.  I really do not care who they pat on the back but I would expect them to get a little more work done than they have so far.

To Castrate Or Not To Castrate

That is the question that lawmakers will be considering.

The Mississippi House Of Representatives has a bill that it will be considering, HB374.

The tag line is:  ” To authorize the castration of rape and sexual battery offenders for 21 year old or older.

I will agree that a person who raoes a child or otherwise abuses them needs to be dealt with in as harsh of terms as they have dealt to their victims.  I also have mixed emotions about the act of castrating someone for their sickness.  Also, I have heard that the actually act of rape is limited but that the desire to to so may remain

What happens , if in say 5 years, DNA proves the person not guilty, how do you give his life back to him?

There is one way part line 22 & 23–Neither the victim’s consent or lack of chasity is a defense to the charge statutory rape.

I also have a problem with this section.  Have any of the people in the legislature been into a lounge or such lately.  I defy them to accurately tell the age of the woman they see.  In other words, the man is responsible for any lies that he may hear in the act of seeking a sexual liaison.  If the female lies about her age or has a standard fake ID why is the man responsible for that?

I will agree that there has to be strict and uncompromising penalties for the rape or abuse of a child, but this just sounds like something from the pre- civil rights days.  This bill needs more thought and a re-write.

LA: Jindal And Fluoride

This was a recent comment on this blog and I wanted to make sure all read this and would act.

I hope people are equally passionate about Jindal vetoing SB312, the fluoridation mandate bill that will require fluoride chemicals be added to drinking water as a drug to reduce tooth decay, without citizen input.

Many professionals world-wide are calling on Louisiana Governor Jindal to veto a bill which would force fluoridation on almost the whole state. SB 312 was quietly pushed through the legislature by PR firms without most Louisianans knowing it was happening.

Fluoride is added to water ostensibly to reduce tooth decay but according to many professionals contacting Jindal, recent evidence indicates that fluoride poses many health dangers (NRC, 2006).

On June 19, 2006 the American Dental Association was forced to admit that fluoride can be harmful to all kidney patients, not just those on kidney dialysis.

Among professionals writing to Jindal are Dr. Kathleen Thiessen, and Dr. Robert Issacson, panel members of “Fluoride in Drinking Water” a landmark review by the National Research Council (NRC, 2006); Dr. Doug Everingham a former Australian Health Minister and Dr. Vyvyan Howard, president of the International Society of Doctors for the Environment. They are among 1700 professionals calling for an end to water fluoridation worldwide. See http://www.FluorideAlert.org

With American Dental Association funding, the Louisiana Dental Association (LDA), hired public relations and lobbying firms to promote the fluoridation bill. The LDA boasts that they have huge access to legislators. On their website they state that their activities include “the use of staff and contract lobbyists, governmental publications, legislative reporting service, dinners for legislators, Dentists’ Day at the Legislature, and VoterVOICE!”

“In the interest of fairness, Governor Jindal should Veto the fluoridation bill, so that citizens can find out what fluoridation entails and allow legislators to hear the latest evidence of fluoride’s dangers. Governor Jindal has been tapped as a future leader and more than anything else people expect leaders to act fairly,” says Paul Connett, Phd, Executive Director, Fluoride Action Network.

The Fluoride Action Network asks all concerned citizens to contact Gov. Jindal to veto SB 312 by sending an online message at http://la2.fluoridealert.org or phoning 225-342-7015 or 866-366-1121.

LA: Recap Of Legislative Session

The chairman of the Louisiana Legislative Black Caucus on Saturday pointed to several initiatives sponsored by the group’s members during the current lawmaking session that he said improved the quality of life of their constituents.

Rep. Juan LaFonta, D-New Orleans, said one of the more significant bills of the session was legislation to prosecute hate crimes involving the display of nooses. House Bill 726 by Rep. Rickey Hardy, D-Lafayette, has been sent to the governor, who can veto it, sign it or let it become law without a signature.

LaFonta announced that several white members of the House have become honorary members of the caucus, a first for the group.

Those members were James Armes III, D-Leesville; Walt Leger III, D-New Orleans; Fred Mills Jr., D-St. Martinville; and Karen Gaudet St. Germain, D-Pierre Part. LaFonta invited the representatives to stand with him at the House podium and was also joined by Reps. Jeff Arnold, D-Algiers, and Andy Anders, D-Ferriday.

The caucus also highlighted passage of House Bill 334 by Rep. Elbert Guillory, D-Opelousas. It offers alternative sentences for rehabilitation for people who commit certain crimes. Guillory also wrote House Bill 268, which lets nonviolent offenders who pose no threat to society enter work release programs.

Another success for the caucus was passage of a major expansion of the state-financed pre-kindergarten program for children by Sen. Ann Duplessis, D-New Orleans.

The Legislature this session agreed to create a task force to study discrepancies in criminal sentences given to African-Americans versus other groups. LaFonta also won passage of a resolution calling for a study of the effects of high-stakes testing in public schools.

LA: Legislation UpDate

Budget in the wings

Several key issues remain unresolved as the Legislature heads into the final sprint before its June 23 adjournment, not the least of which is the $30 billion state budget bill. The Senate Finance Committee had been scheduled to take up House Bill 1 on Friday, but Chairman Mike Michot, R-Lafayette, said the committee’s staff needed more time to work out amendments to the bill. Among other things, the Senate panel is wrangling over how much to restore from the $122 million in proposed spending cuts made by the House Appropriations Committee, most of which affected health care and education programs. Also awaiting final action from lawmakers are bills limiting the use of cell phones and text-messaging by drivers, raising the salaries paid to legislators and members of the Public Service Commission and providing private-school vouchers to some public-school students in New Orleans. Finally, Gov. Bobby Jindal is expected to make a long-awaited announcement about the size and configuration of the new Louisiana State University teaching hospital that’s been proposed for downtown New Orleans, which has been under review since March.

Jindal signs bills

Gov. Bobby Jindal signed another 43 bills into law Friday, including health care and education measures backed by his administration. The administration bills include House Bill 672 by Rep. Don Trahan, R-Lafayette, tweaking the state’s “bill of rights” for classroom teachers and requiring that a copy be posted in every school and administration building, and House Bill 653 by Rep. John LaBruzzo, R-Metairie, allowing psychiatrists to examine patients using video-conferencing technology under certain circumstances. Other notable bills include House Bill 1311 by Rep. Erich Ponti, R-Baton Rouge, authorizing U.S. attorneys, their assistants and investigators to carry concealed weapons, and House Bill 373 by Rep. Chris Hazel, R-Ball, establishing commemorative license plates for veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The governor has signed 119 bills from the current lawmaking session, and let 19 others become law without his signature. He has vetoed three bills.