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Newsletter

Dear friend,

The legislative session ended on April 1 with a rather dramatic confrontation between the Governor and the Legislature. The issue was next year’s budget, and I believe that an explanation is in order. But first a general update on the session.

The Legislature addressed a number of issues of interest to the voters and taxpayers of our district.

The first year of the 5-year teacher pay increase was fully funded. We increased the amount of homestead exemption to provide property tax relief to senior citizens and the disabled. We created the Mississippi School Safety Act of 2001, an act designed to provide safer schools and to provide professional help for troubled kids. The game and fish “licensing war” between Mississippi and Louisiana was settled, and I believe our hunters and fisherman are happy with the result. We passed a law that would let certain first time nonviolent offenders “earn” their way to an early release. We dealt with tightened regulations to protect the elderly by requiring background checks for nursing home employees. We enhanced integrity in the elections process by setting up a procedure to ensure elections will go forward when a local committee fails in its duty to properly operate a voting precinct as recently happened in Madison County. And, in an attempt to eliminate the horrors of abandoned newborns, we established a legal procedure for mothers who voluntarily deliver their newborn babies to certain medical emergency safe haven sites.

As I mentioned in my last letter, there were a number of measures in which I took a leading role.

Along with representatives Jay Eads, John Mayo and May Whittington, I am happy to have authored a bill to promote the Junior ROTC program. The bill passed both houses unanimously and will become law on July 1. This piece of legislation will have a dramatic impact on the kids in our high schools by instilling a heightened sense of patriotism, citizenship and personal responsibility. The bill had strong support from the Mississippi Military Department, the State Department of Education and all of the branches of military service.

After hours of hearings and much negotiation among the parties, we were successful in passing my measure to provide more parental input for public school children with special disabilities.

I also sponsored or cosponsored a number of boring but important business friendly bills that became law: a bill to improve our law governing commercial electronic transactions; a bill to establish electronic government in Mississippi; legislation to update the Model Business Corporations Act; and a new law to allow agencies and institutions to accept payment by credit card.

Much to my dismay, the Administrative Procedures Act that I authored died a quiet death in the judiciary committees in both houses. As I described before the session, this piece of legislation would have provided “an important step in buttressing our democracy and an important tool in guarding the public interest.” However, despite the best efforts of Secretary of State Eric Clark, State Auditor Phil Bryant, the Mississippi Society of CPAs and a number of public interest groups, the bill’s opponents, principally state agencies, succeeded in killing it. Many agencies oppose the bill for the same reason I support it - it requires more public involvement in the rule-making process and limits the power of unelected agency personnel. I have already talked with Secretary Clark, and we will be back next year. This issue is too important to let go.

My other “good government” bill was also killed. The Mississippi Internal Audit Act would have required large state agencies to adopt the common business practice of employing internal auditors to identify opportunities to reduce costs in their agencies. Apparently, the agency heads are not interested, and they killed the bill. The legislation was endorsed by the Mississippi Society of CPAs, the PEER committee staff and the State Auditor, and it just makes good sense. (Anecdote: During the session the head of a large state agency asked me why I was pushing this legislation. I replied that I was just interested in good government, to which he responded, “Why?”) Again, I am not willing to let this issue die.

My bill to require public schools to fly the American flag at half staff when it is flown that way on public buildings passed the House unanimously but died in the Senate. The Senate Education Committee was not willing to take any type of flag bill to the floor prior to the flag referendum. The bill will be back next year.

At the request of the chairman of Ways and Means, I spent much of the last few days of the session working on a bill to eliminate some “loopholes” in the laws governing corporate income taxes. I think the final language is fair to industry and will help enforce current tax laws. Despite protests by some lobbyists to the contrary, there was no tax increase in the bill.

Finally, I am proud to have worked with a dedicated, hardworking group from the Fondren North Renaissance to have successfully passed legislation to allow the Mississippi Memorial Stadium Commission to enter into an agreement whereby the owners of the Jackson Bandits Hockey Club will build a $25 million dollar sports/entertainment facility on stadium property at virtually no cost to the state. Good citizens Brian Fenelon and Jeff Good, representing Fondren, were tireless in their efforts and clearly demonstrated what a group of lay people can accomplish if they are creative and industrious. It is also a great example of cooperation between the public and private sectors for the benefit of the community. There is much negotiating left to be done before the project becomes a reality, but we are well on our way to a state of the art landmark that all Mississippians can point to with pride.

And now to the budget issue. The Governor and the Legislature have an honest disagreement about how much money should be allocated to the various state agencies and institutions for the next budget year. The Governor maintains that revenues are falling below expectations and that budgets should be cut over and above the cuts that have already been imposed. The majority of the Legislature agree that revenues have slowed, but believe that budget cuts of the size the Governor is talking about could be disastrous for state agencies and institutions. In short, we agree that there is a problem, but we believe our approach to the problem is better than the Governor’s.

Let’s take it year by year.

We know that revenues for the state’s fiscal year ending June 30, 2001, will be below what was expected when the current budget was formulated, perhaps as much as $200 million. To make up the shortfall, the Governor has cut $138 million from current year’s spending. He has also transferred $50 million from the nearly $270 million in the “rainy day” fund. In addition, as the law requires, the Legislature only appropriated 98% of the anticipated revenue leaving a $74 million cushion to offset the shortfall. As a result of all these measures, we will end the current year with a balanced budget in accordance with state law.

For next year, most legislators agree that the lower rate of tax collections will probably continue for some several months to come. To offset this problem, the Legislature cut next year’s spending $89 million below current year levels, and $28 million in “special,” non-recurring funds will be used to support general fund budgets. Additionally, as mentioned above, the Legislature only appropriates 98% of anticipated revenues so that there is a $73 million built in cushion. In the event that is not enough, the Governor will be able to transfer up to an additional $50 million from the rainy day fund, and he can always use his ability to cut budgets should the necessity arise. Again, we will end next year with a balanced budget.

So why not make any additional the cuts now? In the budget that was adopted for next year, higher education will take real cuts of $95 million. The Mississippi Development Authority, our critical economic development agency, will lose $8 million; Archives and History loses $2.7 million; Environmental Quality loses $2.7 million; Wildlife, Fisheries and Parks loses $2.4 million and the Forestry Commission loses $2.5 million. The Department of Public Safety has been cut $14.5 million; The Department of Health $10 million and The Department of Mental Health $16 million. While these cuts exceed the aforementioned $89 million total budget reduction, they were partially offset by the ever increasing “fixed” costs of such programs as public education (including the teacher pay raise) and Medicaid.

The reason we don’t want to make additional cuts now is simple. While the cuts that have already been budgeted are painful, they will not be devastating. For the most part they represent delayed purchases of equipment, decreased employee travel and maintaining vacant employee positions. But there comes a time when budget cuts mean real cuts in services.

To cut another $100 million as the Governor has suggested would mean a nearly 6% additional cut for all discretionary budgets, including the agencies I’ve listed above. For example, the Department of Public Safety would lose another $3.5 million, and Mental Health would be cut another $11.6 million. Those cuts could result in fewer highway patrolmen and vacant beds at our mental health facilities. If it turns out that revenues are not growing at a sufficient rate, the Governor can cut budgets. But if we had made the additional cuts and it turns out that revenues exceed projections, the Governor has no authority to add to agency budgets. Once the cuts are made, they cannot be restored.

In short, we have a budget problem, and reasonable men and women are looking for reasonable solutions. In spite of our differences, I believe that the Legislature and the Governor do agree on several points. First, the next few years will be difficult ones in the state budgeting process and will require discipline and hard work on the part of policy makers. Secondly, tax increases are not on the table. And finally, the budget problem will be dealt with, our economy continues to grow and things have never looked as bright for the people of Mississippi as they do in the coming years.

The next few months will be busy. A small group of house members and I have already begun planning for next year. We share a particular interest in education issues and have agreed to explore some alternatives for at-risk kids. These House members are smart, dedicated and honest public servants. I am excited about working with them on this project. In addition, I am working on a task force for the Public Education Forum to address the issue of teacher quality in the state, and I continue to serve as the House liaison to the Department of Information Technology.

At the end of this, my second session, I can only once again thank you for the opportunity to represent you in the Mississippi House of Representatives. It is an honor that I treasure. And let me renew my offer to speak to your civic clubs, church groups or other organizations. Part of being accountable is being willing to get up and explain what you are doing and how government is spending your money. I would welcome the opportunity to do so.

And finally, if you have any questions or if I can help in any way, I’d like to hear from you. My telephone number and mailing and email addresses are shown above.

Very truly yours,

Cecil