As Mississippi enacts a law that will allow its electric cooperatives to offer broadband service to customers, one of the state’s lawmakers also suggested the Magnolia State should follow the lead of Kentucky and issue bonds to build out statewide fiber infrastructure.
Mississippi Wired, anyone?
Despite the fact that the Bluegrass State’s Kentucky Wired is massively overbudget and way behind schedule, Mississippi state Rep. Robert Johnson (D-Natchez) oddly pointed to Kentucky’s plan as one to emulate.
Gov. Phil Bryant recently signed into law the Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act, which sailed through the 2019 legislative session.
After that bill became law, only a handful of cooperatives indicated they are ready to move forward on high-speed internet. So Johnson told Mississippi Today he’d support a state plan to issue bonds and incur debt to build out fiber in Mississippi. The state would then lease the fiber to private providers to extend the “last mile” to customers.
“It is that important to the state,” Johnson said.
Michael Callahan, CEO of the Electric Cooperative of Mississippi, said cooperatives will soon meet with consultants to research acquiring federal funds (read: taxpayer money) to aid in the broadband effort.
Brent Skorup, senior research fellow at the Mercatus Center, cautions against the wholesale model espoused by Johnson. He pointed both to UTOPIA in Provo, Utah, a financially-troubled project purchased by Google Fiber for $1 in 2013, and Kentucky Wired, which is quickly turning into a boondoggle for that state.
“It’s only public-private in the most narrow sense,” he told the Taxpayers Protection Alliance Foundation. “Taxpayers are on the hook for that project.”
Kentucky Wired was originally supposed to be up and running this year, but recent reports indicate only 1,000 of the 3,000 miles of the statewide fiber infrastructure are complete.
Kentucky State Auditor Mike Harmon released a scathing report on the project last year, calling the plan a “bait-and-switch on the taxpayers.” Kentucky residents could be on the hook for as much as $1.5 billion after state officials switched the financing of the project primarily from the private side to the public side to take advantage of tax-exempt bonds by creating the nonprofit Kentucky Wired Infrastructure Company. But a combination of project delays and expected revenues drying up are sinking any chance taxpayers have of recouping their unexpected investment.
As for cooperative broadband, Skorup said the “devil is in the details.”
He points out that such cooperatives are historically heavily subsidized by the federal government, which could hurt the business case for private providers in those areas looking to offer service.
“That could scare off unsubsidized companies in rural areas,” Skorup said.
Another common issue is cross-subsidization between power and broadband divisions, which has been observed in cities that decided to offer high-speed internet and didn’t find the business as easy as anticipated. The Mississippi bill, however, stamps that issue out by not allowing cooperatives to use electricity revenue to prop up the internet.
Skorup said electric cooperatives’ common monopoly on utility poles in rural areas is a concern. Private providers must negotiate rates for usage of those poles for their own fiber.
“I would start to worry that this would give [cooperatives] the incentive to raise the cost of access for other broadband providers,” he said.
Despite his “yea” vote on the bill, Johnson is one of a consortium of attorneys that is suing seven Mississippi electric cooperatives, claiming in the suit that those nonprofit entities aren’t returning excess revenue to their member customers.
Cities and counties could collect certain debts by garnishing state income tax refunds if a bill passed by the Mississippi legislature becomes law.
House Bill 991 would allow local governments to collect any debt or fine that’s at least $50. Different debts could also be combined to satisfy the debt threshold of $50.
The bill passed the House 86-28 back in February and it cleared the Senate by a 30-14 margin last week. It is now headed to Gov. Phil Bryant’s desk for signature.
The legislation was pushed by the Mississippi Municipal League, which said on its Facebook page that it would help reconcile thousands of unpaid municipal court fines in cities and towns throughout the state.
Under the bill, cities and counties would contact the Mississippi Department of Revenue and submit the debt owed it for collection. The local government, or a member organization on its behalf, would send written notice of the intent to the debtor to garnish part or all of their refund.
In addition to the debt, a 25 percent collection assistance fee would also be assessed.
The debtor would have 30 days to contest the garnishment and receive a hearing in front of the government. Appeals of these decisions would be made to the county circuit court.
HB 991 doesn’t explicitly mention county-owned rural hospitals, of which there are 19 in the state, but doesn’t exclude debts paid to them either.
Already, the DOR can garnish state income tax refunds to recover:
- Unpaid child support.
- Federal taxes or fees owed.
- Unpaid student loans (state government loans only).
- Community college unpaid fees or other debts.
The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Smith (R-Columbus).
It made it out of the Senate Finance Committee the day before Tuesday’s deadline for general bills to make it out of committee in the opposite chamber.
Last year, there were a pair of billsthat were very similar to this year’s HB 991 for counties and municipalities and all died in committee without making it to the floor.
Two other bills regarding the garnishment of state income tax refunds for the collection of debts were also drafted.
Senate Bill 2194was signed into law and allows community colleges to get the DOR to garnish state income tax refunds for the repayment of unpaid fees or other debts.
Another bill, SB 2608, would’ve allowed public and private non-profit hospitals to do the same thing, but died on the calendar after making it out of the Senate Finance Committee.
A bill that could protect the donor lists of non-profit organizations passed a key hurdle Monday.
House Bill 1205 would prohibit state agencies from requesting or releasing donor information on charitable groups organized under section 501 of federal tax law. The bill passed out of the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency and is now on the Senate calendar.
The deadline for passage is Wednesday.
The bill, which is sponsored by state Rep. Jerry Turner (R-Baldwyn), was originally written to include all of the different 501(c) designations. The bill was amended in the Senate AET Committee for the bill’s protections to only include 501(c)(3) organizations.
If the bill is passed by the Senate, the new version will have to be accepted by the House or else the differences will have to be settled in conference.
According to federal law, 501(c)(3) groups have to disclose their donor lists to the IRS, which are not disclosed on publicly available tax filings. These organizations are eligible to receive tax-deductible contributions, but can’t engage in direct political activity.
The bill is needed as progressives nationally have made it their goal to expose the donors to political organizations they deem hostile to their interests. If these lists are made available, these donors can be left open to threats, harassment or possibly other consequences.
The Pelosi-run U.S. House will likely pass House Resolution 1, known as the “For the People Act of 2019” Friday.
The rather inaptly named bill would have federal financing of elections in the form of six to one matching funds for donations up to $200 for candidates who reject large donations, would require states to implement mandatory voter registration, restore voting rights nationwide to ex-felons and place greater federal oversight over elections, which have traditionally been the responsibility of the states by limiting state regulations on voting by mail and voter roll purges.
It would also make Election Day a federal employment holiday.
The worst part of the legislation — known as the DISCLOSE and Stand By Every Ad acts — are even being criticized by the American Civil Liberties Union. These acts would require the disclosure of the identity of donors who contribute $50,000 or more by political non-profit groups and also govern revelation of donors for issue-based political ads.
The ACLU and other groups claim this runs counter to First Amendment protections governing free speech.
State Rep. Mark Baker (R-Brandon), a co-sponsor who presented the bill on the House floor, said the ultimate goal of U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and others on the left is to destroy the donor base of the conservative movement and make the entire country like California, where Republicans are a marginalized minority with little electoral or political power.
“They want to destroy groups like the NRA, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the pro-life movement,” Baker said. “They have already successfully carried out this game plan in California.
“Mississippi has a chance to strike back and take a stand to protect donor privacy rights. That’s why I am championing legislation to protect the right of every person in Mississippi to give to the charity or cause of their choice.”
Passing HB 1205 would take the issue of donor privacy, at the state level, out of the purview of the courts.
A 1959 decision by the U.S. Supreme Court, NAACP v. Alabama, would’ve appeared to protect the right to privacy for members of an organization, since they might be exposed to economic and social sanctions.
In September, the U.S. Ninth Circuit of Appeals overturned a 2016 verdict in a case pitting California Attorney General Xavier Becarra against Americans for Prosperity that said that 501(c)(3) non-profits didn’t have to reveal their donor lists to the California AG’s office.
The IRS recently changed its regulations in July to remove donor lists from the publicly-available tax forms for 501(c)(4) and 501(c)(6) organizations. Changing the rules for 501(c)(3) organizations would require action by Congress.
In 1925, a group of mothers came together, committed to commemorating their sons who had tragically been lost in the blood bath that was World War I. To this end, they organized the community, fundraised, and erected the “Peace Cross” in Bladensburg, Maryland with the assistance of the, non-religious, American Legion.
Today, nearly 95 years later, some are claiming that this cross cannot remain on public land, as it represents an establishment of religion by the state. On February 27, the U.S. Supreme Court heard the case of The American Legion v. The American Humanist Association. The Court will soon release its important decision, which may set a precedent for the future existence of memorials around the United States.
It is worth noting that the land and statue were initially owned and cared for by the American Legion, before being taken over by the state. Since 1961, the state of Maryland has cared for the statue and land. Thus, the interpretation of the Establishment Clause pushed forward by the American Humanist Association is ahistorical and fails to account for the precedent of Supreme Court cases, which have previously granted the continued existence of similar memorials. This includes Thomas Van Orden v. Rick Perry. First, the state did not originally erect the memorial, and second, the intention of the memorializers was to put up a symbol of peace, in the way they best knew, and so they turned to the cross.
The American conception of the First Amendment does not necessitate societal freedom from religion, but rather freedom of religion. What makes America unique is that, unlike many European societies, the United States has consistently reestablished not only the freedom to private conscience, but the freedom of public expression of one’s faith.
In this guarantee, our Constitution ensures that the American people are allowed to publicly display their religious beliefs. The mothers of Bladensburg and the American Legion practiced this public expression in their establishment of this monument to the 49 fallen soldiers. And in entrusting this monument to the state, did not intend for the state to make a public establishment of the Christian religion, but rather intended for the enduring memorialization of America’s involvement in World War I, and the citizens that it lost in that war.
The implications of this case are significant, and will have a wide ranging impact on the state of memorialization and religious expression in the United States.
Where will the line will be drawn in regards to monuments and memorials if the Supreme Court takes the side of the Humanist Association? If one takes a walk through Arlington National Cemetery, a number of monuments will be seen that bear the shape of crosses, and the Star of David. All around the country there are crosses that adorn battlefields and town squares. Will all these be torn down?
Far from state establishment of religion, these markers commemorate those who have given their lives for this country, citizens who gave all in defense of the rights and liberties every American should retain.
How confused is a citizenry that insists the memorials of yesterday must be torn from the ground and uprooted?
If nothing else, we ought to respect the dead, and especially those who served the nation in combat and died in battle, enough to commemorate them in the way chosen by the families of the fallen. That is a fundamental American liberty, the right of religious freedom, and it is enshrined in our Constitution. Let’s hope the U.S. Supreme Court does not let The American Humanist Association put that asunder.
Tuesday was the third big deadline in the Mississippi legislature for general, non-revenue, bills to be approved by committees from the opposite chamber.
Not a single bill that authorized a cigarette tax survived Tuesday’s deadline.
The next deadline is March 13, the last day for floor action on general bills originating from the other chamber.
Here are the some of the bills that survived and others that died:
Still alive
House Bill 1352 is sponsored by state Rep. Jason White (R-West) and is known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act. The bill would clear obstacles for the formerly incarcerated to find work, prevents driver’s license suspensions for controlled substance violations and unpaid legal fees and fines, and updates drug court laws to allow for additional types of what are known as problem solving courts.
The bill was passed by the Senate Judiciary A Committee Tuesday before the deadline and is headed to the Senate floor for a vote.
SB 2781, known as Mississippi Fresh Start Act, is sponsored by state Sen. John Polk (R-Hattiesburg). This bill would eliminate the practice of “good character” or “moral turpitude” clauses from occupational licensing regulations, which prohibit ex-offenders from receiving an occupational license and starting a new post-incarceration career.
The bill was amended with a strike-all that made it identical to the original House bill. It was then approved by the House Judiciary A Committee.
HB 1268 would clarify state law regarding constitutional challenges to local ordinances. With local circuit courts acting as both the appellate body for appeals on specific decisions (such as bid disputes) and the court of original jurisdiction, there’s been confusion among judges regarding the law that governs challenges of local decisions, which are required within 10 days.
City and county attorneys have used this 10-day requirement on decisions to get new constitutional challenges — which are new lawsuits and not appeals of decisions — thrown out of circuit courts. This law would add language that would prevent application of the 10-day requirement to constitutional challenges.
The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Southaven). It was passed out of the Senate Judiciary A Committee Tuesday.
SB 2901, known as the Landowner Protection Act, would exempt property owners and their employees from civil liability if a third party injures someone else on their property.
The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Josh Harkins (R-Flowood) and the amended bill been sent back to the Senate for concurrence. If the Senate doesn’t concur with the changes by the House, the two sides will have to settle their differences with the bill in a conference committee.
HB 702 would allow cottage food operators to increase their maximum sales to $35,000 and advertise their products on the web. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Casey Eure (R-Saucier), passed the House by a 117-0 margin. It’s been passed out of the Public Health and Welfare Committee in the Senate.
SB 2603 would reauthorize motion picture and television production incentives for out-of-state firms that expired in 2017. Unlike the previous incentives, both bills would cap them at $10 million.
The bill sponsored by state Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) and been passed out of the House Ways and Means Committee. It’s already on the House calendar and will likely get a floor vote this week.
HB 1612 would authorize municipalities to create special improvement assessment districts that would be authorized to levy up to 6 mills of property tax (the amount per $1,000 of assessed value of the property) to fund parks, sidewalks, streets, planting, lighting, fountains, security enhancements and even private security services. The tax would require the approval of 60 percent of property owners in the district.
The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Mark Baker (R-Brandon) and passed the House 93-22 Thursday after failing to get a two-thirds majority on its first pass on the floor. It’s been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.
The deadline for floor action on appropriations and revenue bills from the other chamber is March 19.
HB 1204 would allow a municipality or county to execute the winning bid in a sealed bidding process if a judge hasn’t ruled on a protection request for bids within 90 days. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Jerry Turner (R-Baldwyn) and was passed out of the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee.
More dead than the Macarena
SB 2675 would’ve reauthorized the Education Scholarship Account program until 2024 and was sponsored by state Sen. Gray Tollison (R-Oxford). The original bill that authorized the ESA program has a repealer that will end the program if not reauthorized on July 1, 2020.
The bill was allowed to die on the calendar by the House Education Committee.
HB 623 would’ve exempted school districts with A and B accountability ratings from the Mississippi Department of Education from certain mandates, including grade reporting and annual auditing of the district’s official discipline plan and code of student conduct.
The bill was killed by the Senate Education Committee before making it to the floor for a vote.
HB 98 would prohibit the use of fishing nets for the taking of finfish or speckled trout within a half mile of the shoreline of Cat Island in the Mississippi Sound. It was allowed to die by the Senate Ports and Marine Resources Committee.
HB 1499 would’ve increased the excise tax on non-cigarette tobacco products such as cigars and chewing tobacco from 15 percent to 22.5 percent, while HB 1500 would’ve raised the per-pack cigarette tax rate from 68 cents to $1.18. Both were sponsored by state Rep. Bob Evans (D-Monticello). It died in committee.
SB 2665 would’ve increased the per-pack tax on cigarettes to $2.18 and was sponsored by state Sen. Willie Simmons (D-Cleveland). It died in committee.
HB 1573 was sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Smith (R-Columbus) and would’ve increased the tax on a pack of cigarettes to $1.68. It also didn’t make it out of committee.
SB 2563 was authored by state Sen. Brice Wiggins (R-Pascagoula) and would’ve hiked the per-pack levy to $2.18. It died in committee.
HB 60 was sponsored by state Rep. Earl Banks (D-Jackson) and would’ve authorized $2 million in bond funds for the Jackson Zoo for capital improvements.
HB 67 was sponsored by state Rep. Ashley Henley (R-Southaven) and would’ve eliminated the state sales tax on food and increased the diversion of sales tax revenue to municipalities from 18.5 to 20 percent.
Mississippi lost 700 jobs over the previous month while the unemployment rate in January remained unchanged for the eighth consecutive month at 4.7 percent.
According to the Mississippi Department of Employment Security, this represents the lowest rate since the Bureau of Labor Statistics began calculating state unemployment data in 1976. But Mississippi still has among the highest unemployment rates in the country. The national unemployment rate is 4.0, up slightly from 3.9 percent in December.
But these numbers vary greatly depending on what part of the state you are in.
In the Jackson metro area, Rankin (3.7 percent) and Madison (3.9 percent) counties posted unemployment rates lower than the national average. Hinds county, however, had a rate of 4.8 percent.
In the Pine Belt, Lamar county had an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent. Forrest county, though, was higher at 4.7 percent.
Desoto county had an unemployment rate of 4.1 percent, while Lafayette county had a rate of 4.3 percent. Union, Pontotoc, and Lee counties boated unemployment rates of 3.9 percent, 4.1 percent, and 4.1 percent, respectively.
But on the Coast, unemployment rates were above state and national averages. Harrison county had the lowest rate at 4.8 percent, while it was 5.8 percent in Hancock county and 6 percent in Jackson county. The Gulfport-Biloxi-Pascagoula MSA had an unemployment rate of 5.4 percent, about a point higher than the Hattiesburg MSA (4.5 percent) and the Jackson MSA (4.4 percent).
The Delta and Southwest Mississippi continue to post the highest unemployment rates in the state. This includes 14.1 percent in Jefferson county, 12.7 percent in Issaquena county, 10.2 percent in Humphreys county, and 10 percent in Holmes and Wilkinson counties.
Among cities, Moss Point had the highest unemployment rate at 7.7 percent, followed by 7.1 percent in Greenville, and 6.4 percent in Vicksburg. On the other end of the spectrum, Madison had an unemployment rate of 3.3 percent, while both Clinton and Southaven posted unemployment rates of 3.6 percent.
A bill in the Mississippi legislature could give a homeowner’s association the right to levy property taxes on the residents that live there.
House Bill 1612 would authorize municipalities to create special improvement assessment districts in areas administered by home owner associations.
These 501(c)(3) organizations would be authorized to levy up to 6 mills of property tax (the amount per $1,000 of assessed value of the property) to fund parks, sidewalks, streets, landscaping, lighting, fountains, security enhancements such as gates and cameras, and even the hiring of private security services.
In Mississippi, ad valorem tax is assessed at 10 percent of the value of real property.
For example, on a house with an assessed value of $250,000 in the city of Jackson, six mills of additional tax could add up to an additional $145.50 annually in property tax.
The HOA that seeks taxing authority would have to hold a public hearing with two weeks’ notice that would be advertised in a newspaper that circulates in the area.
The tax would require a referendum of the affected property owners and would require 60 percent approval by them before the district could be authorized.
The governing authority of the municipality where the district is located could dissolve it via a resolution if all activities for which the district was created were complete and no debts were outstanding in connection with the improvements.
The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Mark Baker (R-Brandon) and passed the House 93-22 on February 28 after failing to get a two-thirds majority on its first pass on the floor.
It hasn’t yet been referred to a Senate committee, but as a revenue bill, it is on a later calendar than a general bill. The deadline for floor action on appropriations and revenue bills passed out of the other chamber is March 19.
A similar bill that would only apply to HOAs in the Jackson city limits is active in the House and is similar to bills that have been killed in each of the last four legislative sessions. State Rep. Credell Calhoun (D-Jackson) is the sponsor of HB 1157, which is a local and private bill.
The old law that authorized the creation of these special improvement districts was repealed in 2001.
Criminal justice reform and another bill that would bring clarification to constitutional questions raised regarding actions by cities and counties passed Tuesday out of the Senate Judiciary A Committee.
Tuesday was the deadline for general bills passed by the other chamber to be reported on by committees.
House Bill 1352— also known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act — passed out of the committee with considerable discussion about possible impacts to the state highway funding and other issues.
Mississippi Department of Transportation Executive Director Melinda McGrath and her legal team told the committee that two components of the reform package could put the state in jeopardy of being in non-compliance with federal law. One of those involves the suspension of driver’s licenses for controlled substance violations that were non-moving ones. Another was the expunging of controlled substance violations after a few years in order to allow ex-offenders to obtain commercial driver’s licenses.
McGrath said doing so would put the state at risk for losing millions in federal funding.
Federal law requires at least a six month suspension for any controlled substance violation and changing these requirements could cost the state $36.5 million a year in highway funds for regular driver’s licenses. The part in the bill about CDLs could result in a $14 million funding decrease the first year and $28 million each succeeding year.
State Sen. David Parker (R-Olive Branch) had problems with the legislation over whether it would create loopholes for habitual offenders. He gave the example of an eight-time DUI offender as someone who could use some of the bill’s language as a way to escape prison time. Parker was the lone no vote against the bill.
The Criminal Justice Reform Act is sponsored by state Rep. Jason White (R-West) and would clear obstacles for the formerly incarcerated to find work, prevents driver’s license suspensions for not only non-moving controlled substance violations, but also unpaid legal fees and fines.
The bill would also update drug court laws to allow for additional types of what are known as problem solving courts.
HB 1352 is now headed to the full Senate for a vote. If the bill is amended in the Senate before passage, the differences will have to be settled between the House and Senate in a conference committee.
One bill that didn’t receive a lot of controversy was HB 1268, which would clarify state law regarding constitutional challenges to local ordinances. The bill passed the committee without a single vote against.
With local circuit courts acting as both the appellate body for appeals on specific decisions (such as bid disputes) and the court of original jurisdiction, there’s been a lot of confusion among judges regarding the law that governs challenges of local decisions, which are required within 10 days.
For years, city and county attorneys have used this 10-day requirement on decisions to get new constitutional challenges — which are new lawsuits and not appeals — thrown out of circuit courts.
This law would add language that would prevent application of the 10-day requirement to constitutional challenges, which are new lawsuits and not challenges to decisions.
March 13 is the next deadline for floor action on general bills that originated in the other chamber.