The Mississippi Department of Mental Health has the state’s largest workforce according to analysis of appropriations bills signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant.

The department has 7,112 full-time workers and 600 temporary full-timers, the most by far among state agencies. It represents 25.8 percent of the state’s workforce of 27,610.

The Mississippi Department of Transportation is second, with 3,384 full-time employees and no temporary ones. Its employee roster represents 12.2 percent of the state’s workforce.

The Department of Corrections is third, with 2,685 full-time employees and 474 temporary full-timers. 

Fourth is the Department of Public Safety, which includes state troopers and the state Bureau of Narcotics. The agency employs 1,501 full-time, permanent workers and 90 temporary full-timers.

Fifth is the Department of Human Services, which administers federal welfare programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Temporary Aid to Needy Families (TANF). This agency has 1,741 full-time workers, with an additional 932 employed in time-limited, full-time positions.

The top five agencies in terms of number of employees represent 59.45 percent of the state’s workforce.

Each appropriation bill lists the number of employees at an agency and the performance goals for the agency in the upcoming fiscal year. 

These performance measures were implemented fully in 2017 after being passed by the legislature in 1994.

Mississippi is mid-pack among its neighbors when the ratio of state employees to citizens in considered. 

According to a February report by the state auditor’s office, Mississippi has 108 citizens per every state employee, worse than only Tennessee (167 citizens per state worker) and Alabama (158 citizens per state worker).

Louisiana has 66 citizens per state worker, while Arkansas is the worst in the region with only 50 citizens for every state employee.

When it comes to shrinking the size of the state workforce, Mississippi has followed the trend of its neighbors. 

Since 2004, the state has shrunk its workforce by more than 5,200, with 4,500 of the reductions coming in the last seven years.

In 2010, Mississippi had 94 workers for every resident. Louisiana had 48 state workers for every citizen, Alabama had 144 state workers per resident and Tennessee had 143 state employees per citizen. Only Arkansas showed only a small improvement, shrinking from 51 state workers per resident in 2010 to 50 in 2017.

According to data from the state’s 2018 comprehensive annual financial report, 20 percent of the state’s workforce is employed by government at some level, a slight decrease from 2008, when 20.3 were paid by taxpayers.

The month of May is here. It is getting warmer and summer will be upon us soon. But be warned, you may also see an unregulated, unlicensed lemonade stand along the side of the road. 

For generations, a summer tradition for boys and girls has been to make lemonade, set up a stand in front of their house or near a busy road, and earn money for that special toy they have been wanting, or maybe just to save for a future purchase. For a moment in time, children turn into entrepreneurs, even though they probably couldn’t tell you what the word means.

But lemonade stand entrepreneurs have met a force that strikes fear in the hearts of even the most seasoned professionals: the government regulator.

By now you have probably heard the stories, but they bear repeating because of the sheer lunacy of feeling the need to shut down a lemonade stand, and because they highlight the overcriminalization of our society thanks to laws we have adopted to fix every supposed issue or problem.

In California, the family a five-year-old girl received a letter from their city’s Finance Department saying that she needed a business license for her lemonade stand after a neighbor complained to the city. The girl received the letter four months after the sale, after she had already purchased a new bike with her lemonade stand money. The young girl wanted the bike to ride around her new neighborhood as her family had just moved.

In Colorado, three young boys, ages two to six, had their lemonade stand shut down by Denver police for operating without a proper permit. The boys were selling lemonade in hopes of raising money for Compassion International, an international child-advocacy ministry. But local vendors at a nearby festival didn’t like the competition and called the police to complain. When word of this interaction made news, the local Chick-Fil-A stepped up as you would expect from Chick-Fil-A. They allowed the boys to sell lemonade inside their restaurant, plus they donated 10 percent of their own lemonade profits that day to Compassion International.

In New York, the state Health Department shut down a lemonade stand run by a seven-year-old after vendors from a nearby county fair complained. Once again, they were threatened by a little boy undercutting their profits. A state senator in New York has since filed legislation to legalize lemonade stands. That is correct, we need new laws to clarify that a seven-year-old can run a lemonade stand with the government’s blessing.

For those who may read this and believe the world has gone crazy, we do have a story in Missouri that ended on a good note – though there is plenty of crazy in this story. An eight-year-old boy was being heckled by neighbors inquiring about his permit. If those potential customers got sick, they wanted to know “who we should go to.” The neighbors then proceeded to yell at the boy’s mom after the boy went inside. Fortunately for the boy, the local police department heard about the incident and came by the boy’s lemonade stand to show their support, and to provide their stamp of approval.

As parents and as a society, we should be encouraging entrepreneurship. We should celebrate young boys and girls who want to make money, whether it’s for a new bike or to give to a ministry. When children have the right heart and the right ideas and are willing to take actions, we shouldn’t discourage it. The lessons are valuable. They learn that money comes from work, that you have to plan, and then produce a stand, signs, and lemonade. Introducing kids to the concepts of marketing, costs, customer service, and the profit motive is a good thing.

And why it has always been celebrated in our society for a long time.

Until today. But I suppose these interactions also provide these young children with another valuable but unfortunate lesson: beware of government and crony capitalism. Vendors who don’t like competition use the law to eliminate competition. And government, however good the intentions may have been, created the laws that actually   work against the development of entrepreneurial values by regulating lemonade stands.

As often happens when government steps in to solve a problem, there are unintended consequences few are willing to acknowledge.

Hopefully, the absurdity of these stories has raised more than a few eyebrows. Perhaps they will cause people to recognize the downside of our regulatory burden and maybe even cause legislators to review more than a few of the laws, rules, and licensing regimes that are stifling growth, innovation, and capitalism. If we want a thriving and growing economy, we’ve got to have more entrepreneurs – including those future ones who sell lemonade in their neighborhoods today.

The Mississippi Department of Education admitted a major error last week when it miscalculated the number of teachers eligible for a $1,500 raise passed this session by the legislature.

This isn’t the first time the agency has made a major error, as it has a history of fiscal issues and mismanagement.

MDE said in a news release that it calculated the number of positions based on the Mississippi Student Information System (MSIS) that had only teachers and teacher assistants whose salaries were paid by funds from the Mississippi Adequate Education Program. The agency later discovered additional teachers eligible for the raise who weren’t in the MSIS system as funded by MAEP.

The difference is considerable. The $1,500 raise bill passed by the legislature and signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant will cost $58 million per year. Giving the additional teachers a $1,500 raise will cost anywhere from $12 million to $14 million in additional spending, which the legislature could fix with a deficit appropriation that wouldn’t require a special session.

Considering the pay given to the state’s superintendent of education and the number of employees at MDE, the mistake looms even larger.

Mississippi Superintendent of Education Carey Wright is the nation’s highest paid leader of a state school system and makes $307,000 per year, which is more than the salaries of Mississippi’s governor ($122,160 per year), lieutenant governor ($60,000) and secretary of state ($90,000) combined. The state superintendent’s salary was set in 2008 and Wright was hired by the state Board of Education in 2013 and.

According to the fiscal 2020 appropriation from the legislature, MDE has 550 employees statewide, with most working at the Jackson headquarters at the old Central High School building. 

The agency will cost taxpayers $181,761,535 in the upcoming fiscal year, which starts July 1.

MDE has been dogged by issues with fiscal management in recent years.

In August 2016, MDE fired three employees who contributed to a $19.1 million shortfall in the federal grant program designed to establish community learning centers for after-school enrichment for low-income communities.

The problem was MDE’s Office of Federal Programs issued 46 grants without accounting for the 65 already receiving the funds under the 21stCentury Community Learning Centers. 

MDE tried to reallocate funds from another federal program that sends money to help children from low-income households meet state standards. They announced in 2017 that the deficit was later reduced to $7.6 million and the funds were later restored to districts that requested.

MDE has also had problems with contracts for information technology and other services from 2014 to 2016 as spotlighted by a report by the state auditor’s office. 

The report accused the agency of circumventing state procurement laws and wasting taxpayer funds with duplicative service contracts, many of which were given to former Wright associates from her time at the Montgomery County (Maryland) school district in suburban Washington, D.C.

Hinds county, home to Mississippi’s capital city, saw its population decrease by nearly 3,000 residents last year. 

According to new data of population estimates from July 1, 2017 through June 30, 2018 released by the U.S. Census Bureau, Hinds county is down to 237,085 residents. The county’s population was 240,033 last year. This marks the sixth consecutive year of a population decrease in Hinds county after a small gain to 248,643 in 2012. The population is down 3.5 percent during that time. 

Hinds county’s population decline was in line with the state’s population decrease of 3,133 during the same time period.

For the second straight year, Desoto county had the largest growth, in terms of number and percentage. The Memphis suburb added 3,087 residents last year for a growth of 1.7 percent. Lamar, George, Lafayette, and Madison counties round out the top five for percentage growth over the past year. They were the only counties to grow by 1 percent or more. 

Harrison county had the second largest gain in terms of population growth, adding 1,717 residents (or 0.8 percent) last year. 

Hancock, Jackson, Pontotoc, Rankin, Stone, and Union counties all posted gains of at least 0.5 percent. No one else did. 

Fifty-seven of the state’s 82 counties saw population decreases last year. The biggest losers, in terms of percentage, were Quitman, Washington, Issaquena, Coahoma, and Carroll counties. 

Outside of small pockets in the Jackson metro area, on the Coast, near Tupelo, and the Memphis suburbs, population is stagnant at best. 

A pharmaceutical company that is closing a Mississippi drug plant received money from taxpayers for another facility in the state.

AmerisourceBergen will be shuttering its Cleveland PharMEDium plant, laying off 140 workers, but the Pennsylvania-based company received $1,150,000 from several Mississippi Development Authority programs to move a distribution center to Olive Branch, where the $48 million facility employs 129 workers.

The DeSoto facility received $600,000 from the Development Infrastructure Program, which builds and repairs publicly-owned infrastructure, such as roads, for new and expanding businesses. If AmerisourceBergen were to miss its job creation goals, the company would have to repay the grant. 

Under the DIP program, companies aren’t required to make an investment commitment. 

AmerisourceBergen received $500,000 in grants from the Mississippi ACE Fund, which like the DIP program, can be clawed back if the company doesn’t meet job creation goals. The MDA calls this fund a “deal-closing fund” and this money can be used to relocate equipment, provide employee training or building improvements.

AmerisourceBergen also received $50,000 for training under the Workforce Training Fund in 2017.

AmerisourceBergen is also participating in the Advantage Jobs Incentive Program that provides a rebate of 90 percent of Mississippi payroll taxes withheld to qualified employers for 10 years.

The Cleveland plant was part of a 2015 acquisition by AmerisourceBergen of Illinois-based PharMEDium for $2.575 billion. The transition hasn’t been the smoothest for the parent company.

The company said in a first quarter filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission that it likely won’t restart production this year at its Memphis PharMEDium facility where it laid off 225 workers in January. 

Both the Memphis and Cleveland plants are compounding facilities that mix drugs in syringes and intravenous bags for sale to hospitals, which see cost savings from not having to do them in-house. 

PharMEDium also has facilities in Dayton, New Jersey and Sugar Land, Texas.

Production at Memphis was suspended by AmerisourceBergen in December 2017 after an inspection by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration found issues with sterility with syringes made at the facility. The company said in its SEC filings it is enacting corrective measures to fix the problem.

The company issued a voluntary recall in December 2017 on some of its products because of a lack of assurance in their sterility. 

The company received a grand jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Western District of Tennessee in November 2017 for documents about lab testing of a certain type of syringe made at the facility. 

The NCAA Tournament provided a big boost to Mississippi casinos in March as revenues from sports gambling nearly doubled February during an otherwise quiet time of the year. 

In March, total taxable revenue was $4.9 million versus $2.8 million in February. 

But while Mississippi was the first state in the Southeastern Conference blueprint to have legalized sports gambling after the Supreme Court overturned the federal ban, more players are entering the field and making it easier to wager on sports.

To place a bet on sports in Mississippi, you have to do it at a casino. That may be attractive for a destination event such as the Super Bowl or a major boxing match, but it’s likely not going to happen for an average basketball or baseball wager on a Tuesday night. That person will continue to use an illegal, offshore website, which costs the state revenue it would otherwise receive.

Meanwhile to the north, Tennessee is on the cusp of legalizing online sports gambling. While the Volunteer State does not have casinos, those interested in betting on a sporting event will be able to do so from their smartphone or computer. Obviously making it much easier, and more convenient to place a bet. 

This would likely have the biggest impact on the already declining revenue of Tunica casinos. Another casino is closing this summer, leaving the county with just six remaining casinos, a far cry from the boom of the 1990s when those six  were the only casino destinations for hundreds of miles. Gaming payrolls peaked at 13,000 in Tunica in 2001, but they are down to less than 5,000 today. 

Today, it’s much easier to find a casino near your house, including one in West Memphis, Arkansas. 

So while the Mississippi legislature had the vision to approve sports gambling when it was still illegal, pending the Supreme Court decision that gave authority back to the states, the limitations on where the consumer can bet will likely hurt the state as sports gambling becomes more common place across the country. 

Gov. Phil Bryant has changed his mind on film incentives after signing into law earlier this month a bill that brought back some subsidies that expired in 2017.

Senate Bill 2603 allows Mississippi-based motion picture production companies to receive up to $5 million for payroll and fringe benefits paid to out of state, non-resident employees. The bill, as originally written, would’ve provided to out-of-state production companies up to $10 million for payroll and fringe benefits for out of state employees. 

This was reduced in conference to $5 million and restricted to production companies that have been certified by the Mississippi Development Authority to have filed income taxes in the state in the past three years and filmed at least two motion pictures in the state in the past 10 years. 

The law went into effect immediately and there isn’t a repealer, which means there’s no expiration date on the incentives.

The bill signing marked a major shift in Bryant’s opinion on the motion picture production subsidies, which are being curtailed or eliminated in several other states.

The governor urged the legislature in his FY2018 budget recommendation to allow the Motion Picture Incentive Rebate Program to expire, citing a 2015 report by the Joint Legislative Committee on Performance Evaluation and Expenditure (PEER) as one of the reasons.

“While I support the jobs and attention that films bring to Mississippi, taxpayers should no longer subsidize the motion picture industry at a loss,” Bryant said in his budget recommendation. “The motion picture incentive rebate has cost approximately $25 million since 2011. 

“Allowing the motion picture incentive rebate to expire could save a similar amount over the next five years.”

The study showed that the state lost 51 cents on every dollar invested in the program since the program’s enactment in 2004.

Since 2009, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 13 states have ended their incentive programs.

There’s plenty of evidence that’s pointing policymakers toward eliminating these subsidies. Indeed, Mississippi’s failure to make a profit on film incentives isn’t surprising. Nor is it out of the ordinary. It’s in line with every other report on incentives, as shown in the graphic below. Film production companies win and taxpayers lose. 

A 2016 study by Michael Thom — an assistant professor at the University of Southern California Price School of Public Policy — found that motion picture incentive programs had little to no effect on the economies of the states with the incentives.

Sales and lodging tax waivers had no effect on four different economic indicators, while transferable tax credits — such as the ones in Louisiana — had a small, sustained effect on industry employment levels but no effect on wages. 

Refundable tax credits had no employment effect and only a temporary effect on wages.

Mississippi has cash rebate program on eligible expenditures and payroll and provides sales and use tax reductions on eligible purchases and rentals. Rebates are capped at $10 million and the annual rebates provided are capped at $20 million. At least 20 percent of production crew of an eligible production must be Mississippi residents.

Did you know that Mississippi has a law on the books that allows licensing boards to suspend or revoke your professional license if you default on your student loans?

Well, until June 30 at least. This year, as part of a larger occupational license reform bill that will make it easier for ex-offenders to receive a license, the legislature adopted new language that will prohibit the state from pulling your license just because you couldn’t make a payment on your student loans. 

The old law, and others like it, were meant to limit defaults and to keep borrowers from choosing not to pay back their loans. A “tough love” law, if you will. The U.S. Department of Education even previously urged states to “deny professional licenses to defaulters until they take steps to repayment.”

Mississippi certainly wasn’t alone. Prior to the repeal, the Magnolia State was one of 15 states - both red and blue - that had such a law in place. But the repeal movement has been steadily growing, with five other states scrapping their laws in the last two years.   

The reasons for the sudden changes of heart are obvious. Some 44 million Americans owe a collective $1.5 trillion in student loan debt nationwide, with 8.5 million federal borrowers in default as of last year. At a time when more and more individuals are saddled with student loan debt, it makes little sense to attack their ability to earn a living in their professional field. The fastest way, and for most people the only way, to pay off debt is to generate monthly income above the basic cost of living.

When young people lose their income, they lose their ability to pay back loans in any meaningful way. At that point, borrowers are stuck in an endless cycle with no way out and few good options. Such individuals are likely to take on credit card debt or other forms of debt just to stay afloat. Continuing this process keeps a debtor spinning like a hamster in a wheel. 

As the student loan crisis is growing, more Americans than ever, and more Mississippians, also need a license to obtain employment. We would call it ironic if it wasn’t so dumb and cruel.

Nearly one-in-five Mississippians need a license to work. This is a change from under five percent just a few decades prior. That is because while licensure was once limited to occupations such as medical professionals, lawyers, or teachers, it now extends to everything from an auctioneer to a shampooer. All totaled, Mississippi licenses 66 lower income occupations. 

Naturally, those lower income occupations are more likely to default on student loans. 

Consider cosmetologists, who are licensed in all 50 states. In Mississippi, you must clock 1,500 hours, which is more-or-less in line with other states. And you need all this for a job that has a median national wage of $25,000 per year. Not surprisingly, cosmetologists had a national default rate of over 17 percent in 2012, significantly higher than the national average. If a cosmetologist defaults, and he/she loses his/her license, what should they then do? The same could be asked of any licensed professional. 

In the long run, we need to reform occupational licensing to make it easier for people to earn a living without spending a year or two in the classroom, often accruing debt. Many of the occupational licenses the state requires are onerous and serve little purpose but to protect established interests. Most occupational licenses can be replaced with less restrictive alternatives such as certification, bonding, insurance, inspections, or registration. 

In the meantime, preventing licensing boards from attacking licenses because of student loan default is a good first step toward liberty and toward encouraging a defaulter to take the personal responsibility to pay off debts by exercising their right to earn a living in Mississippi. 

This column appeared in the Vicksburg Post on April 24, 2019.