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Newsletter

Dear Friend,

The regular session of the legislature began in January and lasted through the first week in May. Ten days later the Governor called us back to consider changes to the state’s tort system and a voter identification bill. A brief report on both sessions follows.

First a few general comments about my activities. As with all members at the beginning of a new term in office, I have new committee assignments, including the vice chairmanship of the Municipalities Committee. All of my assignments are listed at the top of the page.

The Joint Legislative Budget Committee (JLBC) is of special interest. It is my first time to serve on this committee. Seven members of the House and seven Senators work during the summer and fall to develop a budget recommendation for the following fiscal year. Because the work of the committee is the starting point for the state budget, appointment to the committee is considered a plum, and I am grateful to the Speaker for the opportunity to serve. There are difficult fiscal challenges ahead. Within the committee I plan to aggressively push for full funding for education at all levels, support for the state Medicaid program, a reduction in discretionary spending, more accountability for state agencies and a decrease in the level of state debt.

The budget proposal that came from last year’s JLBC did not fully fund education, made significant cuts in the state health care system and left a number of recurring obligations unfunded. As a result of the difficult fiscal situation, the Speaker appointed a special committee on fiscal responsibility and asked me to serve a lead role in developing an overall budget plan for the House. In that position I worked closely with the Speaker and the chairmen of Appropriations and Ways and Means, and that work absorbed much of my time during the regular session.

Also during the regular session, my bill to attack the state’s drug problem was passed and signed by the Governor. I worked on the bill for three years. This landmark legislation will set up a task force to use the tax laws to prosecute drug kingpins and has been widely praised. I was also able to pass a number of education proposals and legislation to reduce the cost and size of government.

For the House in general, there were actually two major issues during the regular session - the budget and the leadership of the House.

Much of the debate centered around the budget. Projected recurring revenues were some $400 million less than projected expenses. Early on the House took the position that education, including kindergarten through college, should be fully funded. We also proposed selective budget cuts, hiring freezes and some fees and assessments to close the gap. The Governor came back with a proposal that would cut K - 12 educations by $100 million and terminate nearly 1,000 tenured state employees. He summarily refused to consider any fees or assessments and insisted on eliminating nearly 65,000 poor, elderly or disabled Mississippians from the Medicaid roles. The Senate and the Governor also wanted to take money from the Mississippi Department of Transportation and from the tobacco trust Fund.

I was one of the three House conferrees (negotiators) on the final budget package. The Governor insisted on major cuts in education and Medicaid. The House conferees refused and offered a combination of fees for services and selected budget cuts. After days (and nights) of fruitless negotiation and with a legislative deadline staring us in the face, we reached an agreement with the Senate and the Governor that resulted in a patchwork budget that, unfortunately, will simply exacerbate the problem next year. We were able to reduce the cuts in education and to convince the Governor to apply for waivers to provide coverage for some of the Medicaid patients. But we lost on the transportation money and the money from the tobacco trust fund. The good news is that next year’s budget is balanced. The bad news is that it will be impossible to balance the budget for the following fiscal year without a major restructuring of education or government or a significant tax increase.

I remain opposed to a general tax increase. We need to reduce the size and cost of government where we can. We need to raise the fees on some government services to offset the cost of providing those services. Many have not been increased in more than 25 years. If those measures, coupled with cuts in nonessential services, are not enough to balance the budget, we need to consider an increase in the cigarette tax to help fund the cost of health care including Medicaid. The budget is not a short term difficulty. The growth in the economy will not solve the problem. It will take a focused, long-term strategy to return us to fiscal stability, and that is where I plan to spend much of my effort for the next three years.

The leadership fight was less obvious to the casual observer, but was, nonetheless, pervasive in its effect on the membership of the House.

Representative Billy McCoy of Prentiss County was elected Speaker of the House succeeding Tim Ford who retired after 16 years. Representative McCoy has served in the House for some 26 years and has been actively involved in promoting many major pieces of legislation during his tenure - most notably the 1987 Highway Program and the Mississippi Adequate Education Act. He also played a major role in designing and passing Governor Mugrove’s “Advantage Mississippi” economic development program and legislation to attract Nissan to Mississippi. Speaker McCoy is known as a populist and a fighter - a man of a strong work ethic and even stronger convictions. He is also a Democrat who believes in the principles of the Democratic Party and an inclusive approach to governance.

With a new Republican governor, a Republican Lieutenant Governor and a growing Republican minority in the House and Senate, it was perhaps inevitable that a man like Billy McCoy would be a target for political attack, and the Republicans in the House did not disappoint. The session was fractious, with numerous parliamentary maneuvers designed to disrupt the legislative process and, perhaps, to unseat Speaker McCoy. Speaker McCoy fought back.

One significant event in this fight was widely misinterpreted by many observers. Early in the session we changed the House rules to require a 2/3 vote to pull a bill out of committee rather than a simple majority. Some charged that the rule change was designed to kill “tort reform.” That is not true. At the time a minority of House members were threatening to pull numerous bills from committees; again, an attempt to disrupt the House. The committee process is an important part of the legislative process in Mississippi, just as it is at the federal level. A majority of the House recognized the danger to the system and voted to protect it with a rule change. That change was not, as some have charged, a heavy-handed power grab by the Speaker. It was, instead, a rational decision by a majority of the duly elected members to protect the institution from anarchy. I voted for the change and believe it was necessary to preserve the orderly process of the House. Unfortunately, it appears the leadership fight is not over, and we can anticipate continued disruptions on the House floor for some time to come.

When the regular session ended without a tort reform bill, the Governor delivered on his campaign promise and called us back into special session. Although voter ID was in the Governor’s call, it was never seriously considered, and the Governor did not push the issue. On the other hand, it was clear from the votes in the regular session that a tort bill was going to pass. Most of the House members supported some form of tort reform. Finding the language that would satisfy enough members to get a majority vote was the issue.

Both the Speaker and Judiciary A Chairman Ed Blackmon were criticized and accused of attempting to “pocket” the bill to prevent a vote of the membership. That charge is simply not true. The proof is in the final passage of the bill - a bill that included virtually everything the Governor and the business and medical community wanted. Both Chairman Blackmon and the Speaker had full authority to keep the bill from a vote on the floor. By allowing that vote, they assured its passage.

The special session was particularly wearing. Many of the special interest groups wanted an immediate passage of a bill - without regard to the details. Some of us actually wanted to know what we were voting on, much to the dismay of some of the lobbyists. A perfect example is the first bill we considered - HB 4. Many in the business community were infuriated when I voted for the bill. They did not like the language and argued that the bill would never come back from the Senate, and tort reform would die. When it did come back from the Senate, with Senate language that was just bad policy, and I voted against it, the same people urged me to vote for the bill, arguing that if we killed that bill, tort reform would die No matter how many times or how many different ways I told these people that I knew what I was doing and that a bill was going to pass with most of the provisions they wanted, they continued to call, email and harass me. In all honesty, it was a bitter experience.

One other comment. The most disappointing part of the special session was the crass partisanship of some House members. During the tort debate, a number of Republicans made it clear in private that they were strongly opposed to the Governor’s position on some of the issues. However, they were unwilling to publicly state their positions for fear of opposing their Republican colleagues. They privately urged Democrats to work to change the tort bill, but were unwilling to step forward to help make the changes. Again, their conduct was disappointing.

All of that being said, it remains an honor to represent the people of our district. I am more convinced than ever of the importance of the job, and I treasure my service. I wish that our politics was more civil - that we could debate instead of divide - create instead of tear down - honor instead of insult - cooperate rather than confront. But whatever the climate, I will continue to work as hard as I can for as long as I can for the people of this very diverse district and this state. Thank you again for that opportunity.

Yours,

Cecil