Recent editorials from Mississippi newspapers:
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March 1
The Sun Herald on the BP oil spill settlement:
This is not how we wanted the BP economic damages settlement saga to play out this year in the Mississippi Legislature.
The Coast was supposed to go to Jackson with a unified voice to fight off any attempts by delegations in the northern part of the state to tap into the more than $700 million the state will receive from BP to help the Coast recover from the Deepwater Horizon disaster that devastated the tourism and fishing industries.
Tuesday, while the Coast was celebrating Mardi Gras, lawmakers in the House killed a Senate bill that we wrongly assumed represented that unified voice.
Turns out, the unity we have been hearing about for a couple of years has been exaggerated. Press releases and finger pointing have been flying.
The bill “does nothing to move us in the direction of helping the Coast,” said a release from 16 House members, both Republicans and Democrats, from the Coast.
“Today, we have taken a step backward with the House Appropriation Committee’s refusal to bring the ’BP bill’ up for debate,” said the bill’s author, Sen. Brice Wiggins, R-Pascagoula. That bill, which passed the Senate unanimously, was co-authored by five Coast senators.
It is not a good look for the Coast. Lawmakers up north must be ecstatic.
While there isn’t a bill specifically dealing with the massive BP settlement alive in this year’s session, that doesn’t mean the money can’t be spent.
Last year, in the 11th hour of the legislative session, both the House and Senate passed an appropriation bill to spend $41 million of the initial $150 million payment. The spending went for projects as diverse as buying land for a Pearl River Community College expansion in Hancock County to $3.5 million to pay for this year’s Bicentennial Celebration.
We’re not debating the merits of any of the projects from last year.
But.
There was no advance notice that the bill was coming on conference weekend, perhaps the busiest days of the session. It was passed with little opportunity for debate or input, either from the public or the Coast delegation.
Every day the BP money sits in a special fund up in Jackson under the control of the Legislature, there remains a chance the money will not be spent with the best interests of the Coast in mind.
We have known this money was coming for more than a year. Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was on the Coast on three separate occasions to listen to the people. There is Go Coast 20/20, the work of state and local leaders, which offers a litany of worthwhile projects.
It’s clear there is only one missing ingredient: agreement among the Coast’s senators and representatives. They need to sit down, overcome their differences, come up with a plan, write a bill and pass it.
We hope it’s not too late.
Online:
https://www.sunherald.com
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March 1
The Northeast Mississippi Daily Journal on creating an entertainment district in Tupelo:
Tupelo was given special permission by state lawmakers last year, and the All-America City is taking its time in determining how best to use it.
During its 2016 session, the Mississippi Legislature gave about a dozen cities, including Tupelo, the ability to create outdoor leisure and recreation districts. The so-called “to-go cup” bill was signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant.
The law essentially allows people to consume and carry open cups of alcohol outdoors in public spaces within recreation districts. Doing so had previously been illegal.
Cities specified by the new law must still follow a process before creating such a district. Plans must be approved by the local city council, as well as by the state’s Alcoholic Beverage Control agency.
One year after the law was passed, Tupelo is still determining the best way to proceed.
Downtown Main Street Association Executive Director Debbie Brangenberg said a task force with representatives of local businesses has been formed and has started to study the issue, as reported by Daily Journal local government reporter Caleb Bedillion.
“We’re taking baby steps,” Brangenberg said.
Tupelo Chief Operations Officer Don Lewis agreed and said City Hall is happy for the discussion of the matter to be deliberate.
Lewis also suggested the city may consider temporary districts timed to coincide with outdoor festivals or events. Under that path, the outdoor alcohol rules would not be in place all the time.
Brangenberg said it is too early to say how a final proposal will look. She said the task force will examine the plans of other cities - including one being used by the city of Gulfport - for ideas. That research is a good thing, and Tupelo will benefit by learning from the experiences of others.
The leisure and recreation district legislation began from a request to spur business and tourism on the Gulf Coast. Gulfport leaders were particularly eager to create an entertainment district where pedestrians could drink and stroll through its downtown, which was revitalized after Hurricane Katrina and filled with new restaurants and bars, according to the Sun Herald newspaper.
All of the cities in the Gulf Coast counties were included in the original legislation. As it worked its way through the process, other cities - including Hattiesburg, Jackson, Starkville, Holly Springs and Corinth - asked to be included.
Tupelo’s decision to take baby steps is a good thing, especially when it comes to something that needs to be considered from a public safety and quality of life standpoint.
However, Tupelo must also guard against over caution leading to inaction.
At the end of the day, this is something that could benefit our city from a tourism standpoint. Other cities have seen that potential and have jumped on it. We should too.
Online:
https://djournal.com
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Feb. 24
The Commercial Dispatch on raising taxes:
At some point, our elected officials in Jackson must accept reality and make some tough, and likely, unpopular decisions about our state budget.
This week, Gov. Phil Bryant announced a $43 million cut to the budget that will affect most state agencies. Such cuts have become common practice. The governor has cut funding for state agencies five times in the past 14 months for a total of $212 million.
We are fast approaching the point, if we haven’t already, where the basic services our government provides are seriously compromised. While some agencies have been spared in some of the cuts, all have been cut at one time or another. This time, K-12 education, whose funding has consistently fallen beyond the Legislature’s own standards, will be cut as well.
In announcing this latest cut, Bryant pointed out that even with the cuts, the state budget remains more than $700 million more than it was five years ago.
That argument is of little comfort. Five years ago, every state had seen its budgets operate at a bare minimum as the nation struggled to recover from the 2008 recession. Since then, Mississippi’s recovery has lagged behind the national average.
What really matters is the current strategy is not working and likely will not work unless taxes are raised, something our state leaders have persistently and stubbornly avoided.
Raising taxes may not be good politics, of course. Nor is it easy medicine for taxpayers to swallow. And while it is true, we have not sent our legislators to Jackson for the express purpose of raising taxes, neither did we send them there to dismantle the agencies that provide the services we, as taxpayers, have every right to expect.
Various measures to raise revenues - everything from a state lottery to taxing Internet sales to raising the state gas tax - have been proposed. To date, all have faced formidable opposition and the outcome is unknown as the legislative session goes into its second half.
Not to act, we believe, is legislative malpractice and why the governor may lament budget cuts he has made, it’s worth noting that he is not without blame. During his tenure, the Legislature has repeatedly presented bills that cut taxes, much of those for the benefit of corporations. Even so, he has yet to veto any of those bills.
So, no Governor, you do not get a pass.
Taxes will go up. There is no other alternative. But before that happens, the Legislature should rescind the $280 million corporate tax cut it passed last year - the largest single corporate tax cut in state history - before any resident in our state is asked to pay more.
Online:
https://www.cdispatch.com
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