BOBBY HARRISON: Like father, like son

 

JACKSON – House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, turned over the duties of presiding over the House for a period Friday to Rep. Bryant Clark, D-Pickens.

The move was historic because it represents the first time anyone can remember that a father and son have presided over the House.

Clark is the son of Robert Clark, who served as pro tem of the House in the 1990s and presided on a regular basis.

The Clark family is used to making history. Robert Clark of Holmes County was the first African American member of the Mississippi Legislature of the 20th century. He served from 1968-2000 and was succeeded by his son, Bryant, who currently is vice chair of the Rules Committee.

Read Bobby Harrison’s coverage of the Capitol in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

BOBBY HARRISON: The Rules …

JACKSON – Some have said that the House rule that mandates a two-thirds vote to pull a bill from committee is not democratic.

At one point, it required only a simple majority vote to pull a bill from committee. In 2004, the House Democratic leadership led a successful effort to change the requirement to two-thirds to pull a bill from committee.
       
Earlier this session a majority of the House decided that the two-thirds majority should remain place.
       
It seems legitimate to argue about the merits of what size vote is needed to pull a bill from a committee chair. Reasonable minds can disagree on that issue. But by the same token, it seems disingenuous to say it is an attack on democracy to require the two-thirds vote.
       
After all, a majority voted to put the two-thirds requirement in place. A lot of votes require more than a simple majority, including to raise or cut taxes or to suspend the rules to consider a bill in the legislative process. It takes a two-thirds  vote of the Legislature to amend the state Constitution.
       
A majority decided removing a bill from committee is a serious enough issue to require a super majority.
       
An an aside, House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, could have opted to leaves in place the rules from the last four years. Those rules required the two-thirds vote to remove a bill.

That way he could have avoided a fight. But McCoy thought there was enough interest in the issue that it should be debated and the House members should have a fresh opportunity to speak on the two-thirds requirement.

Thus, his leadership team brought out a new set of rules to give the members the opportunity to remove the two-thirds requirement if they saw fit. A majority did not.

News from Jackson …

Miss. Senate approves public review of AG’s outside contracts
By SHELIA BYRD
The Associated Press

JACKSON – The Mississippi Senate voted in favor of a bill that would force the state’s attorney general to go through a public review process before entering contracts with private attorneys.

The bill, which passed 29-18, was supported by critics of Democrat Attorney General Jim Hood, who say he has given lucrative state contracts to private attorneys, some of whom have donated to his political campaigns.

But Hood said the legislation would put Mississippi in a vulnerable position in cases against big corporations, which would be tipped off about possible lawsuits.

“If you make it public, then the company may go sue you in New York or somewhere,” Hood said Friday after the Senate vote. “They want control to prevent us from recouping the taxpayers’ money from corporate wrongdoers.”

When Mississippi files a lawsuit, the attorney general’s office often has to seek private attorneys to assist in the litigation. The bill debated Friday would require Hood to notify the agency if a lawsuit was about to be filed on its behalf and to seek bids on the contract. The contract would then undergo a review by the state Personnel Board.

The bill moves to the House for more work. Similar bills have died there in the past.

***

The bill is Senate Bill 2188.

Also …

Democrat Jones sworn in as senator after election dispute ends

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) – Democrat Kenny Wayne Jones of Canton was sworn in as a Mississippi state senator Friday after a two-week hearing over an election dispute.

The Senate voted to seat Jones over the objections of former Sen. Joseph Thomas of Yazoo City, who lost to Jones in the Democratic primary last August.

Thomas contested the race, claiming Jones had not lived in Senate District 21 for two years before he qualified for the race, as required by state law. The district includes parts of Attala, Holmes, Madison and Yazoo counties.

A Senate panel led by Republican Terry Burton of Newton heard evidence in the case before recommending Thursday that Jones be seated. After taking the oath, Jones said he is thankful the process has ended.

“The Mississippi Senate still has integrity and I’m proud to be a member,” he said.

The 51 other senators were sworn in on Jan. 8, the first day of the 2008 session. State lawmakers serve four-year terms.

BOBBY HARRSION: Ethics laws need reform

JACKSON – No doubt, the current session of the Mississippi Legislature is facing many difficult issues.

There will be division on many of those issues. Efforts to deal with other issues will be stymied because of a tight state revenue stream.

But it seems that one issue that all sides could agree on  is reforming the state’s ethics laws for public officials. The costs of such reforms would be non-existent probably and minimal at worse.
       
In many ways, the current ethics laws are a joke – lacking any teeth. The laws mandating the reporting of holdings and financial interests of public official is very limited.
       
While no one is asking public officials to reveal their net worth, it seems that more information should be available to the public to ascertain if officials face any conflicts of interest.
       
Plus, blind trust provisions should be included in the law so that when public officials put their assets in a blind trust, which is not necessarily a bad thing, we are not relying simply on a promise that the trust is indeed blind.

Text of Gov. Barbour’s State of the State speech

Click here for the prepared remarks by Gov. Haley Barbour in the State of the State speech.

BOBBY HARRISON: Turner’s Prentiss ties appear to help

JACKSON – Rep. Jerry Turner, R-Baldwyn, voted against fellow Prentiss Countian Billy McCoy for the post of speaker.

But it appears that the fact they both represent Prentiss County might have helped Turner when McCoy started making committee assignments.

McCoy gave Turner a coveted spot on the Ways and Means Committee. Slots on the two money committees – Ways and Means and Appropriations – are determined primarily through seniority based on the 1990s congressional districts.
       
The speaker does have some so-called wild call appointments to the money committees, but the vast majority of the membership is determined by seniority.
       
Turner was one of five members tied – based on seniority – for the last 1st District spot. The 1st District includes most of Northeast Mississippi.
       
All five voted against McCoy. Four of the five are Republican. Margaret Ellis Rogers of New Albany is the only Democrat in the group of five. McCoy opted to select Turner over a fellow Democrat. Rogers did get the slot of vice chair of Oil, Gas & Other Minerals.

News from Jackson …

Economist says Miss. may not meet revenue estimate for ‘O8

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Legislative leaders were told Thursday that Mississippi’s economic outlook shows slow growth, and it’s possible that state tax collections will be lower than expected this year.

“With the slowing economy, it’s bad news on top of bad news,” State Economist Phil Pepper said during a fiscal briefing at the state Capitol.

Pepper said there’s been slow growth in retail sales, and the national housing crisis has had a ripple effect in Mississippi.

The revenue estimate for the current fiscal year, which started last July 1, is $5.1 billion.

“The economic outlook is not as good as it was when we set the estimate. We’re at risk of not making the estimate,” Pepper said.

The revenue situation makes budget decisions even more difficult for lawmakers. Several agencies are asking for tens of millions of dollars to continue their operations through June 30.

The largest deficit appropriation request comes from Medicaid at about $87 million. And, Treasurer Tate Reeves said Thursday he would ask lawmakers for an additional $40 million to help pay off the state’s long-term debt.

Senate Appropriations Chairman Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, said he’s open to suggestions about solving the funding problem.

“We don’t have $90 million in the general fund to fill that hole,” Nunnelee said, referring to Medicaid. “I’m looking for options.”

The 2008 Legislature is now in its second week. Lawmakers have about four months to craft a spending plan for the fiscal year that starts July 1.

Also ….

Miss. lawmakers shorten session, set earlier budget deadlines
By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS
Associated Press Writer

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) _ Mississippi lawmakers have shortened their 2008 session and have taken a “giant step” in opening up the state budget process by setting earlier deadlines and giving people more time to examine the final versions of spending bills, the Senate Appropriations Committee chairman says.

“This is a monumental occasion in state government,” Sen. Alan Nunnelee, R-Tupelo, said Thursday. “I’m convinced that the most difficult thing to change in this entire body is to change the way we do business.”

The earlier deadlines are part of the House and Senate operating rules.

The House approved the rules Wednesday and the Senate approved them Thursday. Lawmakers are in the second week of their 2008 session. Now that the rules are in place, legislators can get down to the serious business they were elected to do such as setting education policies and filling the budget hole for Medicaid.

The new rules shorten the 125-day session to 103 days — a change that could save anywhere from $100,000 to $500,000, according to legislative leaders.

This is the first year of the four-year term. The first year’s session is usually 125 days to give new officials time to learn their jobs. Sessions in the second, third and fourth years are 90 days.

Republican Gov. Haley Barbour is back for a second term. The last time Mississippi had a second-term governor was in 1996, and legislators shortened the session that year.

Under the new budget-writing deadline, final versions of spending bills will be filed on the last Wednesday of the session, and the two chambers will start voting on those bills two days later. They will have to finish the process by the following Monday.

Until now, lawmakers’ deadline to file budget bills had been on the final Saturday of the session, then both chambers would start voting on the bills the next day and had to complete the process by Monday.

Setting an earlier deadline gives lawmakers and the public, more time to study the final versions of spending bills. And it will put a dent in the last-minute, behind-the-scenes wrangling that gives the Appropriations chairmen their power and keeps lobbyists employed.

Read more about the Legislative session in Friday’s Daily Journal.

Miss. House votes to allow weapons on Capitol grounds

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) - Here’s hoping those angry legislative debates don’t carry over into the parking lot.

The Mississippi House voted 65-53 Wednesday to lift a ban on lawmakers or others having weapons on the Capitol grounds — for example, in the trunks of their cars.

Weapons would still be banned inside the building.

The proposed change is part of the legislative operating rules, and the Senate would need to approve the rules before the weapon ban would be lifted.

Rep. Sidney Bondurant, D-Grenada, said some lawmakers probably already carry their hunting rifles in their vehicles.

“I would say this is just getting in compliance with reality,” Bondurant said.

In 2004, the Senate granted an exception to the legislative operating rules and allowed 29 of its 52 members to bring weapons onto the Capitol grounds.

House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, gave his colleagues a lighthearted warning that they might have to watch out for angry constituents. He recalled one year when legislators were debating a motorcycle helmet law and a bunch of angry bikers came to the Capitol.

“The security had to take some monkey wrenches away from some guests,” McCoy said with a chuckle. “You’d better be careful.”

————

The resolution is Senate Concurrent Resolution 502.

BOBBY HARRISON: Interesting proposal

JACKSON – At the beginning of each session, the House and Senate adopt joint rules. The rules include such items as deadlines to act on legislation at different stages in the process.

This year all of the attention on the joint rules has been over a proposal to shorten what is supposed to be a 125-day session.

The Senate, under new Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant’s leadership, has come up with an interesting proposal that will not get much attention because it is technical in nature, but it could result in more open government.

Currently, in a bill, asterisks (***) are used to depict when language is removed from existing law. To find out what the deleted language is, a person has to check the legal code or depend on the description provided by others.

It can create a method to sneak language into law. Under the Senate proposal, the deleted language would remain in the bill, but with a line through it to indicate it is being removed.

The House rejected the Senate proposal. The House leadership expressed some legitimate concerns. For instance, when whole sections of law are being removed,  a 25 page bill could grow to 125 pages.

There still is work to do on the joint rules before they are finalized and time to explore the issue of the deleted language further to see if there is a way to make it work.

It would provide people interested in the legislative process more information. And that always is a good thing.

Read more from Bobby Harrison each day in the Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal.

BOBBY HARRISON: From the inauguration …

 

JACKSON – The inauguration of the governor – any governor – is more about pomp and circumstance and little about specifics.
       
On Tuesday, Gov. Haley Barbour, in his inauguration for his second term, talked about the future of the state in broad terms, but offered few specifics. The specifics are for a state of the state speech, which will come later.

Many people might not realize it, but the inauguration is actually a joint session of the Mississippi Legislature, even though, it always is done outside, weather permitting.
       
It is not unusual for members of the Legislature to not attend the event, but to listen on television from inside the Capitol. Some people even raise the windows in the ornate Capitol building and listen.
       
But on Monday, Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, urged all members of the House to attend the event. While McCoy has at times been in well publicized disputes with Barbour, he always has been a stickler for honoring the process and the people involved in the process.

Read more from today in Wednesday’s Daily Journal.