In this episode of Unlicensed, we talk about Tuesday's elections, some interesting results, and where we go next now that Republicans have full control over government in Mississippi.

New regulations went into effect today that will allow vegan and vegetarian companies to continue using meat product terms on their labels. 

In July, vegan food company Upton’s Naturals and the Plant Based Foods Association (PBFA) filed a First Amendment lawsuit challenging a Mississippi law that would have banned plant-based food companies from using meat product terms like “burger,” “bacon,” and “hot dog” on their packaging. Upton’s Naturals and PBFA were represented by the Institute for Justice and by the Mississippi Justice Institute serving as local counsel.

In August, the parties to the lawsuit advised the court that they were engaging in negotiations that might lead to the adoption of new regulations and the resolution of the case. Those negotiations ultimately led to the withdrawal of proposed regulations that would have implemented the ban, and the adoption of new regulations.

“These new regulations are a victory for free speech in Mississippi,” said Aaron Rice, Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute. “Consumers understand that products labeled with terms like ‘vegetarian burger’ are plant-based foods. Our clients can now continue using labels that are best understood by their customers without risking potential criminal prosecution.”

Under the new regulations, plant-based foods will not be considered to be labeled as a “meat” or “meat food product” if the label also includes “meat-free,” “meatless,” “plant-based,” “vegetarian,” “vegan,” or similar terms.

Because the new regulations adopted in response to the lawsuit will allow companies to continue using meat product terms on their labels, Upton’s Naturals and PBFA have dropped their lawsuit.

The new regulations can be found here. 

Republicans first captured the governor’s mansion in Mississippi in 1991. It would take them 28 years before they won all eight statewide offices. 

But the Republican victory in the attorney general’s office for the first time wasn’t the story line of the night. That was more or less predetermined when Attorney General Jim Hood decided to run for governor, setting up the most competitive governor’s race in 16 years in the state.

Hood was everything you’d hope for as a Democrat. He’d been elected four times as a Democrat statewide; the last three times he was the only Democrat elected. He has roots in Northeast Mississippi, a populist region of the state once viewed as the key to win statewide. And a Democrat stronghold not too long ago.

Gov.-elect Tate Reeves had also been elected statewide four times, but he didn’t enjoy the broad appeal of the previous Republican governors, Haley Barbour and Phil Bryant. 

At the end of the day, all Democrats have to show is a narrower loss than normal. This isn’t a loss you can build on and argue that you are getting closer to the finish line. The near perfect storm of 2019 for Democrats likely won’t be there in 2023, and presumably, neither will Hood. 

There were no surprises among downballot races and very little crossover vote. In each of the seven races, Republicans won between 58 and 61 percent, a uniformity we hadn’t yet seen in the state. 

And while there was some jockeying for office, only one incumbent actually won re-election. Mike Chaney was re-elected to a fourth term as insurance commissioner. Agriculture Commissioner Andy Gipson and Auditor Shad White, who were both appointed to their positions by Gov. Phil Bryant, won their first full terms. 

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann will soon become lieutenant governor and preside over an even larger Republican majority. Treasurer Lynn Fitch is moving to attorney general as the first Republican in that office.

State Sen. Michael Watson became the first resident of the Coast to be elected statewide in a generation as he becomes the next secretary of state. And businessman David McRae was elected treasurer, four years after unsucessfully challenging Fitch in the Republican primary. 

Among regional offices, the central district, which is a slight Democrat district, produced a split result. Republicans appear to have picked up the public service commissioner spot with Brent Bailey leading Jackson City Councilman De’Keither Stamps by about 3,500 votes. Commissioner Cecil Brown, a Democrat, did not run for re-election.

But Democrats look likely to capture the transportation commissioner office with State Sen. Willie Simmons leading Brandon Mayor Butch Lee by almost 5,000 votes. Commissioner Dick Hall, a Republican, did not run for re-election. 

There was little movement in the legislature, with a split decision in the House.

Though not official, Democrats are leading in House District 64, a seat in Northeast Jackson long held by Republican Bill Denny. He is trailing Democrat Shanda Yates by about 1,300 votes. In Desoto county, Republican Ashley Henley is trailing Democrat Hester Jackson McCray by 13 votes. Henley represents a district whose demographics are rapidly moving away from Republicans. Neither of those races have been officially called. 

House District 122 is a pickup for Republicans. Brent Anderson cruised to his first election over Wendy McDonald 68-32. There was little drama in this largely Republican seat after Rep. David Baria, a Democrat, passed on re-election. And Republicans are leading in House District 12, an Oxford based seat. Long held by Republicans, Democrat Jay Hughes captured the seat four years before leaving it to run for statewide office. Republican Clay Deweese is leading Democrat Tiffany Kilpatrick by about 50 votes. 

Among the two former Democrats running as independents, Rep. Angela Cockerham has defeated Democrat Aisha Sanders 58-42 in a very strong showing. Though Lee county produced numerous problems with machines yesterday, longtime Rep. Steve Holland is trailing his opponent, Democrat Rickey Thompson, by about 200 votes. 

We saw more changes in the Senate, with Republicans in line for a net pickup of three seats. 

Republican Daniel Sparks cruised to victory in Senate District 5 defeating Democrat Steve Eaton 72-28, Republican Ben Suber defeated Democrat Kegan Coleman 58-42 in Senate District 8, Republican Melanie Sojourner is returning to the Senate after defeating Democrat Wiliiam Godfrey 58-42, and Republican Mike Thompson defeated Gary Fredericks 52-48 in Senate District 48. This seat was made open after Fredericks defeated incumbent Deborah Dawkins in the primary. 

Democrats were successful in the recently redistricted Senate District 22. Democrat Joseph Thomas defeated Republican Hayes Dent 52-48. 

Along with likely losing a House seat in Oxford, Democrats lost the open Oxford-based Senate seat by 17 points. In the Hattiesburg-based House District 102, Republican Missy McGee cruised to her first full term, winning by 30 points. 

These are the type of ‘swingy’ districts Democrats would need to begin capturing to make progress in either chamber. That didn’t happen yesterday, and if you’re a Democrat you have to be wondering what the future holds. Who is going to be the Democrat nominee for governor in four years? There is no obvious answer. 

Yesterday was a good day for Democrats. In Virginia and Kentucky. But in Mississippi, Democrats have little to be excited about.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves was elected governor, besting Attorney General Jim Hood by a 53-45 margin. Republicans will retain an office they have held since 2003 and for all but four years dating back to 1991. 

Reeves took an early lead, and was in command the whole night. Hood was able to make some progress over past Democratic candidates, particularly in his home base in Northeast Mississippi. Hood also did better than most Democrats in the suburbs, winning 35 percent in Rankin county and holding Reeves to a virtual tie in Madison county. 

But in the end, it wasn’t enough to propel a Democrat into the governor’s mansion. 

The governor’s race was the only competitive statewide race on the ballot. Republicans were expected to easily carry the remaining seven offices – and they did just that. This marks the first time since Reconstruction that Republicans occupy each of the eight statewide offices. 

Lt. Governor

Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, a Republican, defeated Democrat State. Rep. Jay Hughes 61-39, with 75 percent reporting. 

Attorney General

Republicans finally captured the office that had escaped them since Republican dominance in statewide election came to fruition in 2007. Treasurer Lynn Fitch defeated Democrat Jennifer Riley-Collins 59-41, with 75 percent reporting. 

Auditor

Shad White, who was appointed auditor by Gov. Phil Bryant a year ago, was unopposed in his first run for the office. 

Secretary of State

Republican State Sen. Michael Watson defeated former Hattiesburg Mayor Johnny DuPree, a Democrat, 60-40, with 75 percent reporting. 

Treasurer

Republican David McCrae defeated Democrat Addie Lee Green 62-38, with 75 percent reporting. 

Agriculture Commissioner

Republican Andy Gipson, who was appointed to this position by Bryant last year, was elected to his first full term. He defeated Democrat Rickey Cole 60-40, with 75 percent reporting.

Insurance Commissioner

Mike Chaney is the only incumbent who was elected four years ago to win election for the same position today. Chaney defeated his Democrat opponent Robert Amos, 62-37, with 75 percent reporting. 

Mississippi food stamp work requirements have put program participants back in the workforce while reducing the number of residents dependent on government assistance.

A newly recently released report by the Foundation for Government Accountability says that work requirements have also saved taxpayers $93 million since Gov. Phil Bryant restored them in 2015 for able-bodied, childless adults who participated in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which is also known as food stamps. 

Food stamp enrollment, according to the report, began to drop immediately in Mississippi and had fallen by 72 percent by October 2018. The drop isn’t unprecedented, as two states, Arkansas (70 percent reduction) and Florida (94 percent) posted similar numbers after instituting similar work requirements for SNAP.

Also, since 2016, the average amount of time spent in the SNAP program for able-bodied recipients in Mississippi has dropped by 60 percent.

The study shows that work requirements have decreased dependency on taxpayers by able-bodied, childless adults. According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, 85 percent of these adults on food stamps weren’t working at all in Mississippi in 2015.

Those former SNAP recipients received jobs in 716 different industries and only 23 percent of them are still working in entry-level jobs such as fast food or retail. Their incomes grew by 64 percent within three months of leaving welfare. 

After a year, those incomes increased by 98 percent within a year and 121 percent for those who’d left the food stamp program 18 months before.

“Conservative policies are working, and Mississippi is continuing to reap the benefits of welfare reform,” Bryant said on Twitter. “After implementation of food stamp work requirements we have seen significant improvements.”

Bryant’s administration launched a study to track results of the work requirements, as the Mississippi Department of Human Services worked with the state Department of Employment Security, the National Strategic Planning and Analysis Research Center at Mississippi State University, and FGA to track wages and the industries entered by former welfare recipients.

Up until the mid-1990s, there had been little effort at the national level to end dependence on welfare.

In 1996, then-President Bill Clinton signed into law the Federal Welfare Reform Act. It transitioned a permanent entitlement program known as Aid to Families with Dependent Children to a temporary block grant program known as Temporary Aid to Needy Families or TANF. 

The new law also established work requirements for SNAP, which were later watered down as the federal government granted waivers for states to eliminate these rules for some segments of the population.

In 2015, Bryant restored the work requirements by ending the work requirement waiver. Those able-bodied childless adults who met the work requirements could stay on the program, but those who failed the meet the standard were terminated from the program starting in the first quarter of 2016.

More reforms for the state’s welfare system were still to come.

In 2017, Bryant signed into law House Bill 1090, also known as the Act to Restore Hope Opportunity and Prosperity for Everyone. Authored by state Rep. Chris Brown (R-Nettleton), the law required eligibility monitoring for Medicaid, TANF, and SNAP and required the state agencies to share eligibility data. It also enshrined the end of the state’s work requirement for SNAP into state law. 

It also mandates that state agencies administering welfare programs verify residency and immigration status and bans the use of the EBT cards at ATMs at liquor stores, strip clubs, casinos, and other questionable businesses.

In 2020, a West Virginia law will rescind the state’s ability to issue SNAP work requirement waivers. Wisconsin also passed a similar law.

Thirty states still have partial time limit waivers for the food stamp program, while Mississippi is one of 17 states that have no waivers.

Mississippi, like many other states, has a history of dolling out tax incentives to bring Hollywood film producers to the state. And, like many other states, the net return is generally an awful investment for taxpayers.

When lawmakers were engaged in an ultimately successful effort to revive dead film incentives this past session, the few opponents that could be found in the legislature would often cite a 2015 PEER report on the program in Mississippi. 

The report was mocked as being incomplete or inaccurate, or we were told of the other benefits that we couldn’t necessarily measure. Of course, proponents of film incentives didn't like what the program showed. 

The report from PEER shows taxpayers receive just 49 cents for every dollar invested in the program. That means that for every dollar the state gives to production companies, we see just 49 cents in return for the general fund.

Perhaps, this was a mistake. 

Maybe it was. Because, if anything, the PEER report was too favorable to Mississippi’s film incentive program. A 2017 study published by the Journal of Economic Geography by economists Mark F. Owens of Penn State University and Adam D. Rennhoff of Middle Tennessee State University looked at the impact of film incentives.

It found that Mississippi managed to return an abysmal 14 cents for every dollar of tax credit for film incentives. So, a third of what the PEER report found. 

But much like the PEER report, we again see that there are no instances where film incentives are actually a net positive for any state. It’s not that Mississippi is doing something uniquely wrong. It’s that film incentives are a bad deal for everyone. 

The question isn’t if we are losing money on film incentives, but how much. Because whether it’s 86 cents or “just” 51 cents, taxpayers should not be on the hook to subsidize Hollywood. 

Mississippi is leading the nation with improvements in K-12 educational outcomes and policy changes at the state level helped push the state’s students over the top.

According to the National Assessment of Educational Progress, the Magnolia State earned the top spot for fourth grade gains on reading and mathematics on the NAEP tests. It was the first time that Mississippi fourth graders earned a score higher (241) than the national average (240) in mathematics and tied the national average in reading (219).

Mississippi was the only state with measurable gains in three of four tested subjects on the tests, which are also called the nation’s report card.

Mississippi eighth graders ranked third nationally for growth in mathematics and reading in the same grade level held steady as the average dropped nationally. 

In 2009, only 22 percent of fourth graders were at or above proficiency level in reading. That sparked some changes at the state level. 

The Literacy-Based Promotion Act— better known as the Third Grade Reading Gate —played a large role in Mississippi’s improvement in fourth grade reading. The law was passed in 2013 and signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant as one of his bigger educational initiatives. 

The reading gate legislation mandates that third graders read at or above grade level to be promoted to the fourth grade. The bill also provides help such as reading coaches to districts with large numbers of struggling students. There are 80 MDE literacy coaches serving 182 schools statewide.

In 2019, 32 percent of fourth graders met or exceeded the reading standard. 

This year, taxpayers will spend $15,094,500 on the literacy program. Last year, 36,384 third graders took the reading test, which got tougher this year, and 27,215 (74.8 percent of test takers) earned a passing or better grade on the test. 

In 2018, 25,000 out of 40,500 third graders (61.73 percent) scored a passing or better grade on the reading test. 

In 2009, only 22 percent of Mississippi fourth graders met or exceeded the standard on the mathematics test. Now, 39 percent of students meet that standard statewide. 

Eighth graders also improved, with 25 percent of them meeting the standards in 2019 for reading after only 19 percent made the grade in 2009. Twenty four percent of Mississippi eighth graders reached or exceeded the standard for math, a nine percent improvement from 2009 (15 percent).

Mississippi is still substandard (274) for eighth grade math compared with the national average of 281. Magnolia State eighth graders averaged a grade of 256 on the reading test, still below the national average of 262. That’s still better than 2015, when Mississippi eighth graders managed only a 252.

The District of Columbia had the lowest score for eighth grade reading (250), while Alabama had the lowest score for math at 269.

Minnesota had the highest scores for fourth grade math (248), while Massachusetts (231) earned the top spot for fourth grade reading. Alaska had the lowest score for fourth grade reading (204), while Alabama fourth graders had the worst score for math (230). 

Louisiana, West Virginia and New Mexico tied for next worst in math with scores of 231.

Mississippi restaurant owners who would like to allow dogs on their outside patios are now allowed to do so. 

That is because of a Mississippi Department of Health rule change. 

“MSDH wants to support local businesses in their efforts to best accommodate their clientele. We’ve looked at other southern states – including Georgia, Tennessee and South Carolina – and have modeled our policy after theirs,” Jim Craig, MSDH Senior Deputy and Director of Health Protection, said in a news release that was reported by the Clarion Ledger. “We assessed the health risks and identified the types of outdoor dining settings that would present low, minimal or no risk to the public.” 

Earlier this year, the Clarion Ledger ran a story on pet-friendly restaurants in the Jackson metro area. The Mississippi Department of Health fired back saying that is illegal and that Mississippi code prohibits pets in restaurants, even outdoor areas.

MDH cited the Food and Drug Administration’s Food Code model, which is housed in the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, for the prohibition. That model recommends prohibiting animals in food service establishments, save for service dogs. 

The state didn't have to follow the FDA model. Indeed, many states had already legalized dogs in restaurants before Mississippi. These laws generally do two things. They often allow local governments to enact ordinances if they would like and they allow restaurants to choose whether they would like to welcome dogs on their property. 

And with that, consumers can choose to bring their dog to a pet-friendly establishment, just as those who don’t like dogs can opt to go somewhere else. And the owner of the restaurant can decide what is better for his or her business. 

What path a restaurant chooses isn’t as important as the restaurant having the ability to choose. But the now repealed prohibition on dogs in restaurants is just one of the more than 117,000 restrictions in the state’s regulatory code.  

The biggest regulator in the state? As you would imagine, the same Department of Health that previously went after dogs in restaurants. 

And why does this matter?

Regulatory growth has a detrimental effect on economic growth. We now have a history of empirical data on the relationship between regulations and economic growth. A 2013 study in the Journal of Economic Growth estimates that federal regulations have slowed the U.S. growth rate by 2 percentage points a year, going back to 1949. A recent study by the Mercatus Center estimates that federal regulations have slowed growth by 0.8 percent since 1980. If we had imposed a cap on regulations in 1980, the economy would be $4 trillion larger, or about $13,000 per person. Real numbers, and real money, indeed. 

On the international side, researchers at the World Bank have estimated that countries with a lighter regulatory touch grow 2.3 percentage points faster than countries with the most burdensome regulations. And yet another study, this published by the Quarterly Journal of Economics, found that heavy regulation leads to more corruption, larger unofficial economies, and less competition, with no improvement in public or private goods. 

A prescription for lowering the regulatory burden on a state is the one-in-two-out rule, or a regulatory cap. In 2017, one of President Donald Trump’s first executive orders was to require at least two prior regulations to be identified for elimination for every new regulation issued. This is badly needed. We have gone from 400,000 federal regulations in 1970 to over 1.1 million today. 

Many years ago, British Columbia took on a similar mission. And in less than two decades, their regulatory requirements have decreased by 48 percent. The result has been an economic revival for the Canadian province. 

Whether it’s a sunset provision, where regulations expire and must be reauthorized after a period of time, or one-in-two-out policy, Mississippi should move in the direction toward a smaller regulatory state with more freedom. And if a regulation is truly important to our well-being, let the regulators prove why.

A decision by the state to allow dogs in restaurants is a positive step but it won’t change the trajectory of the state’s economy, for better or worse. Rather, we need a deep dive into the unnecessary and outdated regulations of each agency with a goal of removing unnecessary barriers and inhibitors to economic growth. 

A trend in Georgia among several fine-prone cities is also taking place in Mississippi among three cities heavily dependent on revenue from fines and forfeitures.

A recently released report by the Institute for Justice spotlighted how three Peach State cities have become dependent on fines for a larger chunk of their revenues.

Three Georgia cities — Morrow, Riverdale and Clarkston — had large jumps in terms of real dollars and percentage of revenue from fines, which can include traffic citations and code enforcement after the recession in 2009. All three also had concurrent drops in other revenues as city officials tried to use fine income to fill the shortfall.

A similar trend in Mississippi has unfolded with three of the top cities statewide in — State Line, Walls and Magee — terms of fines and forfeitures per resident. The Mississippi Center for Public Policy analyzed data from the Mississippi state Auditor’s Office and found that all three had substantial increases both in terms of percentage of revenues and total dollars in the last decade from 2008 to 2017. 

State Line and Walls both had substantial drops in revenues outside of fines and forfeitures since 2008, while overall revenue in Magee has increased since 2008. Magee is a popular stopping point on Highway 49; State Line and Walls aren't as conveniently located.

State Line (population 539) is in both Greene and Wayne counties and has the highest amount of forfeitures per resident at $240.41 per resident as of 2017.

The city’s percentage of revenue from fines and forfeitures has increased in recent years.

In 2003, the city had $1,062,594 in revenue, but only $25,371 in fines and forfeitures, which represented 2.39 percent of the city’s revenues.

The biggest jump happened from 2008 to 2015. In 2008, nearly seven percent ($35,289) of the city’s $504,774 in revenues came from fines and forfeitures. By 2015, the total revenues for State Line dropped to $302,748, with $90,710 in fines and forfeitures making up a startling 29.96 percent.

In the first five years of reports, State Line averaged $722,375 in annual revenues and $33,853 from fines and forfeitures, an average of 5.63 percent. 

Now the city gets a larger chunk of its revenue from its court system as tax collections have fallen. In the last three years from 2015 to 2017, the city’s revenues have decreased to an average of $361,427 with fines and forfeitures averaging $96,645. On average, fines and forfeitures have accounted for 26.34 percent of the total revenues.

Fines and forfeitures in State Line, Mississippi

Walls is a town of (1,379 population) in DeSoto County and was ranked first in a recent study by Governing magazine which rank cities and towns nationwide on the amount of their budgets coming from fines and forfeitures. Walls ranked second with 26.53 percent of its general fund budget from fines and forfeitures in 2017. It was 19.5 percent for all revenues, including the utility fund. 

Except for one outlier in 2006, when fines and forfeitures made up 19.32 percent of the city’s budget, the percentage of city revenues dependent on fines and forfeitures was in single digits. 

In 2013, the percentage of the city’s revenues ($941,915) sourced from fines and forfeitures ($152,788)crossed the 15 percent threshold and hasn’t gone lower since.  

Fines and forfeitures in Walls, Mississippi

Magee was third, with its $595,238 in fines and forfeitures in 2017 adding up to $141.89 for each one of its 4,195 residents. This accounted for 12.5 percent of the Simpson County city’s $4.7 million in revenues in 2017.

In 2008, 7.06 percent of the city’s $4,224,745 in revenues came from fines and forfeitures ($298,430). By 2017, both the percentage (12.5 percent) and in total dollars ($595,238) doubled or had nearly doubled in just nine years.

Fines and forfeitures in Magee, Mississippi