Put All Eggs In One Basket

Recently I read an editorial in a local newspaper about the amazing people of the Coast and their recovery from Katrina.  I agree with them somewhat, but they seem to give the Gaming Industry all the kudos as the savior of the Coast.

But permit us to again recognize three institutional aspects of the recovery process:

First and foremost has be the generosity of the American people, as expressed through the appropriations of the United States Congress.

Then there is Gov. Haley Barbour’s Commission on Recovery, Rebuilding and Renewal, which provided the means for South Mississippians to develop visionary plans and devise practical solutions.

Last but not least is the Mississippi Legislature, which passed two indispensable pieces of legislation:

The onshore casino bill ensured the survival of the casino industry in South Mississippi.

The extension of the tourism tax incentive bill to include casino companies will help ensure the expansion of the casino industry into non-gaming activities.

On this foundation we can build any future we choose.

So according to this writer, the Legislature has done the best thing for the Coast…..well don’t think so!  They did the best thing for the coffers of the State…..liquor sales pay many of the bills in Mississippi and Casinos are the major consumer of the state monopoly.

Would almost bet, that the people that voted for the favorable gaming industry stuff will be well compensated for their support.

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.

It Is A Cig Tax —-Again

House and Senate negotiators have been locked at an 11-cent impasse over how much to raise the state’s 18-cent per pack cigarette tax.

Heading into the meeting, both sides appeared to be calling on the other for compromise, though no one was hinting at what the tipping point could be.

Senate conferees have offered a tax of 64 cents – the average of Mississippi’s surrounding states.  The House is proposing 75 cents.

In a statement released Monday, House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, argued that the car-tag dilemma is among the reasons for the House’s proposed 75 cents a pack.

“Car tags, the Medicaid deficit, other beneficial programs and better health for smokers who choose to quit are unique advantages for enacting a higher cigarette tax,” he said. “Opinion polls show voters overwhelmingly approve of such action.”

It is all so pathetic….the state is still giving away the farm to businesses and then try top make up for it by taxing the things that the workers indulge in , in their off time.  Before you support this type of game, ask yourself what happened to the hundreds of millions that is to come from the cig companies through the lawsuits?

I Vote….Wait!

Seems a Harrison County state representative has accomplished the impossible….he can be in two places at once.  I now look for a book on how he can do it.

Wait!  Here is how!  He cheated!  It seems that he was in capital of Jackson to vote on a couple of bills and in Biloxi, about 150 miles away at a bridge collapse.  It seems that someone voted for him.  It has been said that this is a usual occurance.

House Clerk Don Richardson said although the rules don’t allow lawmakers to vote for each other.  Maybe there should be an investigation into who is cheating and lying and who is not.

Janus is in favor of a statewide standard for counting, verfying and ensuring accuracy in voting.  Maybe that should be extended to include our crackerjack reps in Jackson.

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.”

Where Is The State Tax On Smokes?

This is an editorial from the South Mississippi Sun-Herald:

Eight days after the Legislature convened this year, the House of Representatives voted 81-39 to increase the state tax on a pack of cigarettes from 18 cents to $1. Before the end of January, the Senate had voted 42-7 to increase the tax from 18 cents to 49 cents.

In early February, conferees from both chambers of the Legislature were named to work out the differences.

Yet more than a month later, with less than a month to go before the legislative session ends on April 4, not only has a compromise not been reached, negotiations have not begun.

Percy Watson of Hattiesburg, the chairman of the House Ways and Means committee, says he and others would rather wait on a dollar tax than settle for a 50-cent one.

That may be smart politics for Watson and other Democrats, but it is dumb public policy.

On April 1, the federal tax on a pack of cigarettes will jump from 39 cents to a fraction over $1. That federal tax hike ought to be coupled with a state tax increase to motivate smokers to quit.

The Senate’s proposed 49-cent per pack tax would match the average tax rate for states bordering Mississippi. It is a good place to start, and the House should embrace it and move on.

PLease look for the GSFP follow-up editorial on the smoking tax.

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.

Do You Have Twins?

If so, is this legislation needed?  Oh sorry, that would be the proposed bill HB 1191.  This bill proposes that the parents have the option to keep their twins in the same classes or change it, for that matter, the same or different schools.  Have you parents of twins been concerned about this sort of thing?  Does the state need revision of the Code to cover this?

In case there is any confusion on what the act would say.

AN ACT TO AMEND SECTION 37-11-1, MISSISSIPPI CODE OF 1972, TO AUTHORIZE PARENTS OF TWINS OR HIGHER ORDER MULTIPLES TO REQUEST THAT THE CHILDREN BE ASSIGNED TO THE SAME CLASSROOM OR SEPARATE CLASSROOMS IN THEIR PUBLIC SCHOOL; AND FOR RELATED PURPOSES.

Is this something that is really needed to be covered by the legislature when the economy is tanking around out ears?  They cannot find enough money to fund the needed programs the state has now, but they want to waste time and energy on crap like this.

Assault On The Workers

Do you know what the “Employees Free Choice Act” is?  It is a bill in the US Congress which basically states that workers have the right to employees have the right to join, form or assist labor organizations to provide for injunctions for unfair labor practices.  Does that sound like something that would be objectionable?  Well, it is….and especially in Mississippi a right to work state that gets constipation every time the word union is mentioned.

They are so afraid of unions, by they I mean the paid for politicians in the state legislature, that they have gone so far as to offer a bill to order the Mississippi representation in Washington to vote against it.

That bill is SC 550 which states:

A CONCURRENT RESOLUTION URGING MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES CONGRESS TO OPPOSE PASSAGE OF THE FEDERAL “EMPLOYEE FREE CHOICE ACT”

Has anyone in Jackson actually asked any worker in the state of Mississippi what they think of the idea of the Free Choice Act?  I do not think so.  Business in the state does not want it, so they pay these a/holes in Jackson to oppose it…and like good little puppies they do what they are told.

When…just when will the workers in Mississippi wake up and realize that the state is NOT on their side…that the state does all it can to keep them at the bottom of the economic ladder….the Mississippi worker deserves better from their politicians….it is beyiond time to throw these a/holes back into the sewers they crawled out of and start with the governor and go through the entire list…..start over could be no worse than it is now.

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?