Mississippi Legislature 2008 Regular Session Overview and Highlights

House Information Office

Contact: Mac Gordon,

601-359-3323

April 2008

With forecasts that the national economy was headed toward a recession and Mississippi’s revenue growth predicted to be sluggish as well, the 2008 legislative session was one marked by a struggle to find the funds necessary to operate state government.

This, of course, was not an unusual position faced by members of the Legislature, who have often encountered this difficulty in preparing a budget for the next fiscal year. Many see this task as the most important function of the Legislature – to set the budget for the next state fiscal year. Following the regular session, lawmakers were called back for a special session dealing with several matters, including extension of the State Department of Employment Security and finding funding for a $90 million gap in the Medicaid budget. The Medicaid funding dilemma was to be the focus when lawmakers returned to the Capitol on June 26.

That is not say that policy issues like clamping down on illegal immigration, setting future energy policy or passing laws to enhance our public education system are not as important as setting a budget, because obviously they are. But without the proper funds to perform those tasks and others, our state agencies and departments would not be able to do their job.

As in most other recent years, putting together a financing package for the Governor’s Division of Medicaid made our job difficult this session. Most citizens understand that Medicaid is the health-insurance program for a large portion of our population who are poor, aged and disabled. It is unlikely the Legislature to abdicate what it sees as a responsibility to help these citizens have a good quality of life, particularly with health care.

Medicaid affects about one-fourth of all Mississippians, and they come in all age ranges. We are talking about almost 800,000 residents of this state – some of your family members and your friends. Oftentimes, these citizens must choose between food and prescription drugs. Some are that needy. Some have no transportation. Some are in wheelchairs. Many of them are in nursing homes and some are bedridden. So you have a group of people who in many cases simply cannot take care of themselves.

Finding the necessary revenue to fund Medicaid is not new. The state has faced this situation many times. The House of Representatives has for several years favored an increase in the tax on cigarettes as a way of providing a revenue stream for Medicaid. This year, alcohol was added to the mix. It must be understood that Medicaid is an important revenue-producer for our hospitals. Many say Medicaid is the fuel that keeps many of our hospital engines running. Mississippi, the poorest state in America, also gets the most matching dollars from the federal government to fund the program. So, no one should try to diminish the value of the Medicaid program to the state of Mississippi. It helps to provide a quality of life to many citizens who would not otherwise have it – and it keeps open the doors to many of our hospitals.

We struggled to reach a compromise on how to fund and apply Medicaid. We also had a late-session discussion about the recertification process. At some point – whether in special session or in January when the ’09 session convenes -- we will have to deal with the Medicaid budget again.

In fiscal 2009, the state will spend almost $5 billion (actually, $4,965,017,011) in state money on funding government, including Medicaid, full funding of the K-12 education system, running one of the most populated and expensive state prison systems in the country and financing the general operations of more than 100 state agencies and departments.

But the almost $5 billion is not the all of it. Overall, the budget will be more than $17 billion, with the federal government and other special funds picking up the rest of the tab. Special funds are those generated by state agencies themselves through fees on the services they provide to the public. In general, we have a “mean and lean” state government. Very few other states operate their government on as little as $5 billion in state funds. Our state employee workforce of about 30,000 people, not including school personnel, is also one of the smallest in the country.

With funds tight, it was not possible to allocate an across-the-board pay raise for school teachers. However, they will receive their incremental pay advances, so they won’t be completely left out in the cold. We also were not able to increase the pay of state employees.

The session ended with the state’s so-called “Rainy Day Fund” full at $378 million. The General Fund budget was pulled together with funds from a variety of sources, including some one-time resources that we will have to search for again next year. We also used $26 million from the Tobacco Trust Fund to help balance the ’09 budget (leaving some $200 million-plus in that fund). Our “Katrina money” has slowed to a trickle, but we did manage to spend $30 million of that funding to help out several different state agency budgets.

Some of our largest agency budgets in the year ahead are: K-12 education system, $2.2 billion, some $22.8 million above FY ’08 levels; community colleges, $528.7 million; university system, $859.2 million; Medicaid, $3.6 billion, with $787 million of that state money; Department of Transportation, $1.035 billion, mostly federal funds; debt service, $554.7 million, all state funds; University Medical Center, $911.2 million; Department of Health, $347.6 million, mostly special funds; Department of Corrections, $346.9 million; Department of Mental Health, $632 million; and Department of Human Services, $811.6 million.

We passed four general bills that should have a very positive financial effect on the future of our corrections budget, which has tripled in just a decade. The main one is a bill that would allow certain non-violent inmates to be eligible for parole, instead of being forced to serve 85 percent of their sentence, which is current law. Corrections officials believe this could save us millions on our prison budget each year. Another bill allows terminally ill prisoners to get early release, while another makes more inmates eligible for house arrest, which also should save money.

The Legislature was unable to give public school teachers an across the board pay raise. The House early in the session passed an increase of 3 percent, and pushed and promoted it for most of the session, but it did not survive the conferencing and tight finances. HB 513 does, however, extend the incremental pay arises from 25 years to 35 years. That bill also provides $8 million for the high school re-design program designed to better prepare students for the workplace of the future with courses such as construction and manufacturing and transportation; $5 million for vocational education; and $1.5 million for dyslexia screening, an issue that many House members have been pushing.

One of the most controversial education bills faced was SB 2149 requiring the removal of elected or appointed school superintendents in a school district whose schools “under-perform” for two straight years. Some questioned what was meant by “under-performing” and that’s a definition the state department will work on. This bill is an extension of a move several years ago to inject more accountability into our K-12 program. The governor can remove an elected superintendent from office, and that person will not be able to seek the office again for at least one school term. Also, the elected superintendent post may be changed to appointive upon approval in a special election after a county board of supervisors receives a petition signed by 20 percent of the voters. A companion bill, SB 2405, creates a 15-member task force to study the issue of under-performing schools and districts, and also those on the Level 5 schools and districts. A report will be made to the 2009 Legislature.

Yet another school accountability measure was SB 2666 which changes the designation “priority school” to “school at risk,” and will provide special support attention to that school. Still another accountability bill was SB 2416 requiring school board members in districts with one or more under-performing schools to complete a 6-hour course on improving student outcomes. Board members in financially-struggling districts must also attend a similar course.

One of the most popular education bills we passed was SB 2913, to promote the national “Troops to Teachers” program. It provides recruitment, licensure and placement of military personnel who are interested in building second careers as teachers.

Other than the Medicaid funding bill which affects so many citizens of Mississippi, a very important public health matter we addressed was an improved funding source for our trauma care system, designed to save lives during the “golden hour” after accidents when life and death are at stake. The funding bill will raise about $14 million, which is some $8 million more than we have appropriated in the past. Funding will come from two sources.  The first is a “play or pay” source requiring all hospitals except Level 4 facilities to pay if they do not take part in the state system. The income from this source is not included in the $14 million figure, but depending on how many hospitals take part it could range from $1 to $20 million.  The second would increase “court costs” or increases in fines for various traffic citations. The Med in Memphis and a Mobile hospital, both of which are level one, will be treated like an in-state hospital and will know they will be reimbursed when they treat Mississippi patients.

Another “revenue measure” we passed was HB 1641 to issue $97.4 million in general obligation bonds for the repair and renovation of some state-owned facilities at our universities and community colleges, mental health campuses and other state agencies. The university system will receive $29.8 million for various projects, while the two-year college system will receive $10.3 million. The program to replace deficient rural bridges will draw $15 million.

Each year we pass many new general laws or changes to general laws that affect the lives of all Mississippians. Some are fairly mundane; some are interesting; and some are controversial. Here are a few that would seem to interest you, the taxpayers and citizens of the state:

In passing SB 2793, the Legislature found that promoting and fostering the prudent and timely expansion of electric generation is in the best interest of the state, with a diversity of sources including nuclear fuel and coal. Our two largest power companies are both considering new facilities and this bill will allow them to move forward under the close scrutiny of the State Public Service Commission to ensure that ratepayers are properly treated. If plans for new generation are discontinued, the PSC will move forward with the recovery of costs to consumers.

Other bills of high interest include: SB 2988, the bill to help curb illegal immigration by forcing employers to use a federal system of ensuring that the workers they hire are legally in this country and to penalize employers and employees for violations; HB 1351 and SB 2892 to continue the promotion of our vitally important tourism industry and the motion picture-making industry in the state, and HB 877 to designate U.S. 61 as the “Blues Highway,” another tourism bill; HB 519 to tighten the restrictions on persons who have been convicted of sex crimes; HB 701 to create penalties for marine violations in the Gulf of Mexico outside normal state jurisdictional waters; HB 1108 to expand the scope of our obstruction of justice laws to include the bribing of judges, in response to the judicial scandal that has occurred; HB 1086 to require background checks on employees of adult foster care facilities; SB 2246 to encourage the creation of more drug courts in the state; SB 2571 to reform the state justice courts, formerly known as justices of the peace, to include more initial training and continuing education and to raise the jurisdiction of the justice courts in civil matters to $3,500 and allow the judges to carry a concealed weapon on the same basis as all other judges; HB 1136 to clamp down on the theft of copper and other metals in an effort to curb one of the most disgusting “new crimes” that have reached the state; and SB 2619 to create a system to preserve DNA evidence.

Others are HB 341 to decrease the amount per day our veterans must pay to stay in the state-run nursing homes; HB 925 to enhance penalties for assault of juvenile care workers, the elderly and vulnerable adults; SB 2622 increasing penalties for the offense of home invasion; SB 2634 to include the misuse of an EBT card in our food stamp fraud laws; HB 509 authorizing certain inmates to perform public service work at churches; HB 628 creating procedures for the honey products industry; HB 728 requiring consumer notice and labeling of the country of origin on all foreign and imported catfish products sold in the state; HB 1023 creating a health data registry; HB 1053 to build a new state public health laboratory;

Others are SB 2910 to create a panel to study the state’s election laws, require computer courses for circuit clerks and election managers and prohibit the solicitation of absentee ballots in nursing facilities, among other things; HB 1227 to allow the use of webcams in addition to closed circuit television for court appearances; SB 2712 to increase penalties for identity theft that occurs after a burglary or assault; and SB 2983 to overhaul our ethics laws for public officials.

The Port of Gulfport came in for consideration with a plan to allow the construction of “design build” freezers while repairing the valuable facility that was heavily damaged by Katrina.

Some bills died at the end of the session in conference negotiation between the House and Senate, including measures to raise the weekly unemployment benefits, which has been pushed by the House for several years, and the bill to extend the life of the State Department of Employment Security (later resolved in special session). HB 1196 would have provided casinos with incentives to invest in non-gaming enterprises and it was widely believed the act would have brought some high-dollar investments to the state. HB 1081 would have allowed government bodies to enter into contracts for toll roads. HB 520 would have tightened the state’s abortion laws in conjunction with more reporting of sexual offenses and other forms of abuse against minors. The new language would have created civil penalties for anyone causing or assisting a minor in having an abortion. The bill also would have required parents or guardians, health-care providers, clergy, teachers, law officers, film processors and abortion providers to report all incidents of alleged or suspected incidents of sexual abuse against children to law enforcement agencies or the state Department of Human Services. Also, anyone who performs an abortion for a girl younger than 14 would be required to preserve fetal tissue for DNA tests to determine the father. We also agreed to conduct a comprehensive study of our abortion laws and consider the recommendations during the next legislative session.

A few other bills were vetoed by Gov. Barbour, including the infamous deer baiting bill. HB 1240 to create a children’s products safety act also was vetoed and not overridden.

A major movement to further open up state government to the citizenry was the Legislature’s decision to webcast the floor proceedings of the House and Senate.