Legislators returned to Jackson Tuesday with a full slate of work
Medical Marijuana, teacher pay, income tax relief, redistricting, and how $1.8 billion in federal COVID-19 relief funding will be spent, are just a few of the items that lawmakers will have to deal with this session.
“I think it is going to be a busy session,” Rep. Tom Miles said Monday. Senator Tyler McCaughn and Rep. Randy Rushing said they feel the same way.
“The session is likely to be seen with anticipation and hope as the state is blessed with abundant coffers,” McCaughn said. “From the tax collections to the federal funds raining down, I expect the legislature to have a tough row in figuring out how to divide funds. It is often said that legislators fight more in years when funds are abundant than when the funds are scarce. I hope that we can power through those expectations.”
Rushing said that in addition to monitoring the American Rescue Plan distributions to make sure they are spent wisely, he plans to introduce a bill that will reduce the retirement for any law enforcement to 20 years.
“A newly hired Law Enforcement Officer is required to have 30 years minimum to retire as the law currently stands,” Rushing said. “Changing this should help in recruitment for our local police departments and sheriffs.”
The District 78 Representative added, “I would like to see us continue to raise the pay of our lower paid state employees so we do not have a heavy turn over and recruitment problem. Same goes for our teachers. We need to continue to raise their pay to get them up to the Southeastern average. Finally, Medical Marijuana should be passed, but we need to make sure we are strict in its use and availability.”
Miles said he too would be monitoring how the state is going to be spending the money coming down from the American Rescue Plan. “That probably will be one of the biggest issues, how we delegate the portion coming to the state,” Miles said. “The cities and towns already have some of the money and they are waiting to see how the state delegates it before they decide how to use theirs. My priority is doing all we can go get more internet service to the rural part of the state. Personally I think the biggest economic development tool for rural Mississippi as a whole is to get WiFi in all of the homes.”
The District 75 Representative added that he is very interested in how the Legislature will address the teacher shortage. “Education as a whole is always an issue,” he said. “You are going to hear a lot of talk on the medical marijuana issue. We’ll deal with redistricting this year as well. We passed a plan last year giving a break on the state income tax. I think those things will be the core of what will be happening in the House. It’s going to be a busy session.”
McCaughn listed five targeted issues:
1. First and foremost, the state faces redistricting on the state and federal level. As far as District 31 goes, it appears that there will be little change to the overall structure of the district due to a very minimal reduction in population. Though we cannot know for sure until the final vote is cast, it is my hope that we can keep Scott and Newton Counties together as a whole along with the remaining population to come from surrounding counties.
2. Unfortunately, it appears that the two issues that will not go away are COVID and Medical Marijuana. I expect the 2022 Legislature to take on Medical Marijuana fairly early in the session. As always, the Legislature and the Governor will have to continue to negotiate in order to find a mutually acceptable solution to the stalemate. In the end, I expect that the work of Senator Blackwell and Representative Yancy will provide a worthwhile product for those battling chronic illness.
3. As Vice Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, I’ve been working on in depth solutions to the grain elevator collapse in the Delta. Unfortunately, the financial collapse of this enterprise has impacted row crop growers statewide. Senator Younger and myself continue to work to strengthen the laws to make sure that such a travesty never happens again. Additionally, there is much work going into a program aimed at assisting farmers who are impacted by such actions in the future.
4. Lt. Governor Hosemann was very gracious in appointing me as Chairman of the Senate Forestry Committee. As such, I am committed to growing this committee into a formidable advocate for the Forestry Industry in East Central Mississippi. East Central Mississippi has the timber, it has the highway, it has the railroads and it has the workers. All we need now is to secure the industries to build plants for lumber and secondary timber products in our area. As we move forward, I expect that we will look to make sites near shovel-ready for future expansion both in East Central Mississippi and across our state. Forestry is a top industry in our state and employs people statewide.
5. Lastly, I continue to look at concerns within our judicial system and how we can streamline certain areas. I’ll be authoring certain bills to fix loopholes in our system and to make our system as efficient as possible.
“Overall, I expect that this session will see great strides made in legislation so long as the focus remains forward,” the senator concluded.
