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Legislation is moving in the Senate that would make it easier for new Mississippi residents to use their education and experience to contribute to the state economy.

HB 1263, sponsored by Rep. Becky Currie, would recognize the hard work and long hours individuals put in to get an occupational license. The bill passed the House unanimously and was taken up by the Senate committee on Accountability, Efficiency, and Transparency today.

If a new Mississippi resident holds a license from another state, this bill makes it easier for that individual to get the same license here, as long as their credentials and scope of practice is the same. Nine other states have passed similar legislation in a race to make their state more attractive to new residents. The bill is based on a successful reform passed last year that also makes it easier for military spouses and dependents to move to Mississippi and obtain an occupational license.

About HB1263, MCPP President Douglas Carswell stated, “This bill is great news for Mississippi. It will mean more jobs and it will make it easier for businesses to grow.” 

“For too long, restrictive laws have denied ordinary Americans the freedom to move to Mississippi and work. New residents have had to get additional education and training, even when they are well qualified elsewhere. This bill reduces obstacles and makes it simpler to come to Mississippi and work.”

“Well done to Rep. Currie for standing up for working people.”

Dr. Jameson Taylor, Senior Vice President for Policy, stated, “This bill is one of the easiest, best things we can do to encourage people to move to Mississippi. If someone has invested thousands of dollars to obtain the education and experience necessary to get an occupational license, we should open the door for them to move to Mississippi and get a Mississippi license. We spend millions of dollars trying to recruit companies to come here. This bill spends nothing. Yet, I believe this reform could create hundreds of jobs here in Mississippi as high-skilled individuals decide Mississippi is the place they want to be.”

Continued Taylor, “When families move to Mississippi, we make it easy for their kids’ K-12 grade-level coursework to transfer over. We make it easy for college coursework to transfer over. Why wouldn’t we do the same thing when it comes to occupational licensing and let people carry over their relevant education and experience to get a Mississippi license?”

The bill now moves on for consideration by the full Senate. It must pass before a deadline of March 10.

Covid hit Mississippi’s economy particularly hard. Tens of thousands of jobs disappeared as unemployment rose to 16 percent. In the second quarter of 2020, a record number of businesses went bust, filing for Chapter 11 protection.

However devastating the pandemic, Covid has not destroyed America’s spirit of enterprise. Data just in from the US Census Bureau shows a remarkable rise in the number of new businesses being set up. And you know what’s most encouraging? 

The state with the biggest surge in new business applications nationwide is Mississippi.

In January this year, over 6,000 new businesses were started in this state.  That meant a 164 percent surge in new businesses registering compared with January last year.

This entrepreneurial spirit is just one reason why unemployment in our state has fallen dramatically from its peak last year, and is now down below the national average.

This surge in start-ups is great news for the future. Growth does not happen because politicians arrange for big businesses to set up shop in our state via all kinds of inducements. Real growth comes when we create the right conditions that enable small start-ups to expand.

At the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, we are promoting policies that will allow entrepreneurs to flourish. That means taking steps to deregulate our state’s economy. 

Too many areas of economic activity in Mississippi require some sort of official’s authorization or permit. There are too many boards and commissions in Jackson able to fix the system to keep out the competition. Far too many jobs require unnecessary certification.

If Mississippi is to grow the way Tennessee or Florida have been growing, we need a red tape reduction plan.  That means systematically going through the rule book and throwing out unreasonable regulations that hold entrepreneurs back.

Mississippi needs lower taxes, too. There has been lots of encouraging talk about abolishing personal income tax. I think we need to stop taxing entrepreneurs’ inventories, too.

In order to ensure that Mississippi policy-makers help, rather than hinder, innovation, we have just launched the Mississippi Tech Institute. We aim to remove those regulatory obstacles that risk holding our state back.

When folk think about innovation, they often imagine tech start-ups. Important though these are, here in Mississippi there is enormous potential for innovation in other areas, too, such as agriculture and energy production.

The spirit of enterprise is alive and well in Mississippi. Our task is to get big government out of its way.

It is precisely because Mississippi is a relatively small state that we can be nimble, making the kind of changes we need and serving as an example to the rest of America.

Innovation is one of the greatest keys to prosperity, but state regulations are not always friendly to new ideas. In many states, entrepreneurs must climb over mountains of red tape. Many innovators also have to pay thousands of dollars in compliance costs as they try to convince regulators to let them introduce new ideas to consumers.

Fortunately, state leaders in Mississippi are taking action. A bill (SB 2976) introduced by Senator Angela Hill would create a “regulatory sandbox” program that would help new technologies flourish in Mississippi.

The program, administered by the Mississippi Development Authority, would encourage companies with innovative business concepts and technologies to try out new products, without smothering them with regulations. The bill has been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

One specific industry in Mississippi that is ripe for innovation is energy technology. In light of this, Senator Hill has additionally introduced a bill (SB 2975) that would use the “sandbox” approach to encourage new technologies in the traditional energy sector.

The bill would help generate innovative energy technologies by facilitating the creation of a framework to permanently remove or temporarily waive laws and regulations that may unnecessarily inhibit the creation and success of new companies or industries.

In addition, there are provisions in the bill that would encourage agricultural innovation. SB 2975 has also been referred to the Senate Finance Committee.

Mississippi needs innovation and prosperity. The potential for expanded entrepreneurship as a catalyst for Mississippi businesses to further grow and flourish cannot be overstated. Both of these bills introduced by Senator Hill are excellent legislative steps that help pave the way for growth in the Magnolia State.

Update: While both SB 2976 and SB 2975 failed to advance this session, we appreciate the hard work of Senator Angela Hill in championing sandbox deregulation. MCPP, through the Mississippi Technology Institute, is looking forward to working with the Mississippi Senate to unleash technological innovation in Mississippi.

***FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE***

Contact: Hunter Estes, [email protected]

Breaking: Mississippi Center for Public Policy Launches Mississippi Technology Institute

(Jackson, MS): The Mississippi Center for Public Policy, a free market think tank, announced the launch of the “Mississippi Technology Institute” (MTI) as a new division of the Center.

The Institute will promote policies that foster technology and innovation within our state. It will produce rigorous research to help inform the public policy debate in Mississippi and advocate a reform program which will make our state a center of innovation and growth.

“I am so excited that the Mississippi Center for Public Policy is today launching the Mississippi Technology Institute to develop and promote the right polices for our state” explained Douglas Carswell. “Technology is fundamentally changing how the world does business, and removing obstacles to innovation is essential in order to produce prosperity”.

Matthew Nicaud will serve as the Tech Policy Specialist for the Institute. In this role he will continue leading the Tech Talks series in which he interviews public policy and community leaders about high profile technology and innovation issues. He will also coordinate research efforts to help drive forward discussion of important tech-related policies in Mississippi.

Matthew noted, “Technology affects almost every part of our lives. MTI is in a prime position to help inform the debate surrounding new issues. I am excited for what we will accomplish to protect liberty and promote prosperity.”

“I am delighted that Matthew will be heading up this initiative.  He has a wealth of knowledge and is full of enthusiasm for better tech policy.”

“From rural broadband roll out to our proposal for a so-called ‘sandbox’ bill to facilitating permissionless innovation, we have plenty of policy proposals that we will be pushing. Our aim is to help ensure that Mississippi has one of the most tech and innovation friendly policy approaches in the US.”

The website for the Mississippi Technology Institute can be found here: https://mspolicy.org/mississippi-tech-institute/

MCPP’s President, Douglas Carswell, is available for comments or interviews. Please contact Hunter Estes ([email protected]) with all requests.

***END***

Mississippi has more than 2,600 hair braiders registered to practice their art with the state. And these numbers are only growing. They have more than doubled in the past six years.  

Our neighbors to the southwest, Louisiana, as of 2019 had only 19 people who held the permit that is required to braid in the Pelican State. This, despite the fact, that Louisiana has a larger number of African Americans and a larger African immigrant population than Mississippi. 

Why is there such a discrepancy?

Louisiana requires hair braiders to receive an “alternative hair design” permit that includes at least 500 hours of classes. And only three schools in the entire state even offer curriculum for that license. 

But in Mississippi, Gov. Haley Barbour signed a law that freed the state’s African hair braiders from the irrelevant and unnecessary requirements of the Board of Cosmetology in 2005. Prior to that, hair braiders who wanted to teach others, such as Melony Armstrong, had to spend upwards of 3,200 hours in the classroom to learn cosmetology instructions that didn’t relate to hair braiding. 

After the Institute for Justice filed a lawsuit against the Board on behalf of Armstrong, along with Christina Griffin and Margaret Burden, two women who wished to learn hair braiding from Melony and become licensed, the Mississippi legislature responded by freeing hair braiders and exempting them from cosmetology regulations. 

And as we have seen, an economic boom has occurred within this profession. 

Now, hair braiders only have to pay a $25 registration fee and complete a “self-test” on infection control. And despite what proponents of licensing might offer, even with the repeal of most regulations, there were zero health and safety complaints filed against braiders in Mississippi between 2006 and 2012. 

The story of Melony Armstrong has been told many times in the fight for economic liberty, both in Mississippi and throughout the country – deservingly so. 

This isn’t much different than the lawsuit we filed in 2019 on behalf of Dipa Bhattarai, an eyebrow threader who is originally from Nepal, where threading is a way of life. Bhattarai was running two successful stores employing four people, while in college, until the state shut her down. 

Mississippi law requires eyebrow threaders to take 600 hours of classroom instruction, even though they won’t learn anything about threading in class. Rather, they will just spend thousands of dollars while not being allowed to work. 

The cases of Melony Armstrong and Dipa Bhattarai are classic examples of government overreach and licensing boards having the power to regulate – and limit – who can practice within their field. 

But as we saw with hair braiders, we can eliminate needless licensing barriers, put people back to work, and help improve the economy for everyone. 

The legislature has now taken up legislation that would allow for folks like Dipa and Melony to practice their trade without burdensome licensing barriers. Unfortunately, the bill also seeks to bar unlicensed hair braiders from working in salons, even though they've been doing so for years now without any major issues.

There's no reason to take one step forward and two steps back. Let's remove unnecessary obstacles to work and not further hinder those who are already successfully working.

HB 1263, sponsored by Rep. Becky Currie, would recognize occupational licenses issued by another state. A companion bill (SB 2187), sponsored by Senator Kevin Blackwell, would do the same. Each bill must pass its respective chamber by February 11, 2021.

The two bills advance a workforce freedom agenda long advanced by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. Last year, we worked with lawmakers to pass legislation that helps military families move to Mississippi and take advantage of their licensing credentials to get a good job. We are looking to expand upon this achievement by opening up this reform to more families.

MCPP recently had an opportunity to sit down with Rep. Currie and talk to her about this important legislation.

1. Tell our readers about HB 1263 and what it would do.

Last year, we made it easier for military families who move to Mississippi to obtain a Mississippi license to work. This bill expands upon that reform. Many skilled jobs require a license to work. By this, I mean a license to teach or a license to be a dietician or a license to practice as a nurse. We have teacher shortages in many areas. This bill will help address that. We have serious health care access problems in Mississippi. This bill will help address that too. What the bill does is make it easier for new residents to use the training they already have to help Mississippians get a better education, get better health care, and get access to more services.

2. What inspired you to push this bill forward?

Rep. Currie: Mississippi is the best kept secret in the South. I want to see Mississippi grow. One way we can do this is to allow people who move here, who have a license to work in another state, to easily transfer that license to Mississippi. Other states, like Arizona, Missouri and Utah, are making it easier for new residents to have their hard-earn credentials honored by their licensing boards. Why make someone jump through the same hoop twice? If we want to grow, we need to open the door to skilled labor. That is what my bill does.

3. With the economy still reeling from 2020, how do you think this bill could help contribute to greater prosperity for Mississippi?

Rep. Currie: COVID is obviously encouraging people to consider moving out of certain areas that might not be as good a place as Mississippi to raise a family or start a business. As more states make it easier for new residents to work, we have to keep up. Arizona passed this reform in 2019. Today, they are one of the fastest growing states in the country. When new residents move here, that helps everyone. It increases tax revenue and increases the money that goes to schools and roads. It creates new energy and helps us learn about ideas that are catching on in other states. It also, ultimately, increases property values and opportunities for those of us who are already here.

4. What is the next step for the bill?

Rep. Currie: HB 1263 is now ready to go to the House floor for a vote by the full assembly. It has to pass out of the House before February 11. After that, it crosses over to the Senate, for consideration in a Senate committee. This is a team effort. I want to thank my cosponsor, Jansen Owen, for his help. I also want to thank the Workforce Development Chairman Donnie Bell and Speaker Philip Gunn. I also appreciate those in the Senate who are working hard on this same reform.

5. How can people help?

Rep. Currie: This bill is a win-win for the people of Mississippi and for new residents. We all benefit when skilled workers move here. These people are going to get good jobs and help grow our state. They are going to stay off welfare and pay taxes and discover that Mississippi is a great place to raise a family and retire surrounded by your grandkids. That’s the Mississippi that I love. People can help by talking to their state lawmaker and telling him/her you support this bill. Also, even if you disagree with them, say a prayer for your local and state lawmakers. As people like to say these days, we’re all in this together. We are all working hard to write the next chapter in the Mississippi Success Story.

In a surprising move, Facebook has now taken down the SuperTalk Mississippi Facebook page. According to SuperTalk, the supposed violation occurred when the page shared news of an update from Governor Tate Reeves regarding new vaccine appointments.

Paul Gallo, host of SuperTalk’s Paul Gallo Show, stated in a tweet today, “Breaking! SuperTalk Facebook has been pulled for the reasons attached. Seems we committed a violation for sharing a story from the Governor’s office pertaining to expanded vaccines available for appointments.”

The move raises serious questions about Facebook’s community standards and its algorithm for determining potential violations. SuperTalk was distributing important news about vaccine appointment updates to the public. Now, the station that helps to provide news to the entire state, has been restricted from doing so.

This effort unfortunately censors SuperTalk for the time being from being able to distribute news on one of the largest online platforms. Furthermore, this move produces a dangerous potential chilling effect on speech. How many other news providers, influencers, or everyday Facebook users might think twice before a post in fear of similarly being shut down?

Multiple state officials spoke out against the move from Facebook. Governor Tate Reeves tweeted, “Unbelievable! Please fix quickly, @Facebook. Local news outlets like @SuperTalk are essential, and they should not be punished by big tech companies for simply sharing important vaccine information!”

Attorney General Lynn Fitch noted in a tweet, “Big tech is an elite, unelected, and unchecked group that should not have the power to silence and erase anyone. We don’t lose our First Amendment rights just because the town square has moved online.”

The move is likely to bring renewed scrutiny of the tech giant in Mississippi. Several bills in the Legislature address the growing issue of social media giants, like Facebook and Twitter, censoring speech.  These include bills by Rep. Becky Currie (HB 151) and Sen. Angela Hill (SB 2617).

Hopefully SuperTalk’s page will be quickly restored and substantial actions will be taken to ensure this doesn’t happen again.

In our Tech Talks series, we engage with tech leaders, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to discuss the tech world in the Magnolia state and promote public engagement on key tech issues.

For this edition of Tech Talks, we are featuring state Senator Scott DeLano. Senator DeLano serves as the Technology Committee chairman and the vice-chairman of the Veterans and Military Affairs Committee.

Let’s hear from Senator DeLano …

I have served in the Mississippi Legislature for the last 12 years. After having spent ten years in the state House, I was elected to the state senate.

When I served in the House, Speaker Philip Gunn originally appointed me to be the Constitution Committee chairman. I also served as the Appropriations Subcommittee chairman for ITS, MDA and MEMA. In these roles, I found that I worked on a lot of technical questions, so the Technology Committee was created to facilitate these technical matters more effectively. I served in this capacity for the remainder of my time in the House.

In 2019, I successfully ran for an open Senate seat in Harrison County. Upon my arrival in the Senate, the Lieutenant Governor appointed me to be the chairman of the newly created Technology Committee, with a key focus on the modernization of technology services for state agencies. However, the committee is also intended to address tech issues that impact the private sector in the state. This is a significant part of the committee’s purpose as well.

One important issue that we worked on last year is computer science in public education. The legislature is working on creating a clear pathway for computer science and technology classes to be taught in every public-school district in the state. The main element of this entails integrating computer science courses into existing school course curriculum. This is a significant issue that we are working on in the Education Committee.

A second priority was emergency communications as it relates to Next Generation 9-1-1. This program brings internet communications into the dispatches across the state and insures all 911 service fees collected go to the benefit of each county’s Emergency Communication District.

Currently, our first responders are primarily limited to telephone traffic. They cannot currently integrate communications, such as texting and other forms, into 9-1-1 emergency calls. For example, we have technologies such as wireless help buttons for the elderly and telehealth video options. We want to integrate these technologies into our existing emergency dispatch systems.  

These two issues that we worked on last year will be a priority in 2021, as well. However, this is just the beginning. We are looking to explore what further reforms we can make to encourage tech advancements in the state.

During the 2020 session, the legislature passed several bills that directed over $250 million dollars from the CARES act that focused on expanding broadband availability throughout the state. For instance, the legislature appropriated matching funds for Electric Cooperative Associations that yielded over 150 million dollars in new broadband infrastructure development to unserved areas of rural Mississippi. In a separate appropriation, we provided over $100 million dollars to provide laptop computers and connectivity to all public and private schools in the state.  We are tracking these funds to make sure that these funds are used properly. This includes following up with the recipients of the funds, reviewing the recipients' use of the funds, and ensuring that the funds are actually accomplishing their intended purpose.

I have made it one of my key priorities to engage in discussions with fellow legislators about the best allocation and application of these funds. These are significant amounts of money. The legislature has a duty to ensure that these funds are utilized in a fiscally responsible way.

One of my roles as the Technology Committee chairman is to help give the state the best opportunity to attract new businesses by ensuring that we are very cautious not to stymie innovation in the marketplace.

Just as one example, automobile manufacturers such as Nissan and Toyota are developing innovative technologies such as automatic lane correction and autonomous driving right here in our State. But the development of these safety features requires tests to be conducted and data to be collected. There have been laws passed in several states that would prohibit some of this data from being collected. I am very careful, and I think our state should be very careful, not to pass legislation that could prevent innovative research and development.  We want to create a balanced regulatory environment that is optimal for us to attract companies and businesses, jobs, and prosperity into our state. This balance is critical to protect the public from harm while protecting the economy from crippling regulations. This is essential in helping Mississippi to grow.

You would be surprised at how much of a barrier different interpretations of language and terminology pose. For example, what is defined as broadband in an urbanized area of the state may have a completely different meaning than what is acceptable broadband in rural Mississippi. The technical terminology differences can be challenging to lawmakers who are trying to apply this terminology to their constituents' needs. To remedy this issue, we have had to do a lot of clarification on definitions and meaning.

As a committee chairman, I stay informed on tech issues around the country. I provide a point of reason and knowledge for the legislature. It is our goal to implement successful policies from states all over the country. I want to see these policies custom-tailored to encourage prosperity in Mississippi.

This technologically-driven prosperity should be encouraged by passing legislation that gets government out of the way and lets the free market take the lead. By pursuing this path, we want to foster innovation, because it is innovation that provides the cutting-edge technologies that will be required to drive our economy in the future. It will be exciting to see what lies ahead for our state.

Senator Scott DeLano is the Chairman of the Mississippi Senate Technology Committee.

Matthew Nicaud is the Tech Policy Analyst at MCPP and your host for Tech Talks.

One of the many significant challenges that have arisen since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic is the threat of running out of ICU (Intensive Care Unit) beds. This issue is important because the inability to treat severely ill patients on an effective and timely basis unnecessarily increases the incidence of lasting complications or death.

In addition, if COVID does consume all available beds, patients with other critical care needs (e.g., heart attack, stroke, pneumonia, etc.) may be underserved due to capacity limitations. Following are findings on whether Mississippi has sufficient ICU beds and an examination of one of the causes of the potential shortage: outdated Certificate of Need (CON) laws.

Last November, the media increasingly reported that ICU beds were at maximum capacity in Jackson, the state’s capitol and largest city. The State Health Officer, Dr. Thomas Dobbs, tweeted: “Zero ICU beds in Jackson. Very few elsewhere. Please protect yourself and your family.” In July, headlines similarly raised the alarm that “Mississippi’s five largest hospitals are out of ICU beds.” Likewise, in August, we were told that Mississippi’s largest hospital (UMMC) was “negative 14 ICU beds.”

As of January 16, 2021, the Mississippi Department of Health (MDoH) stated that there were 2,680 new reported COVID-19 cases and 70 deaths, bringing the total since June 21, 2020, to 250,869 cases and 5,481 deaths. For the same period, MDoH reported that there were 885 total adult ICU beds, 332 adult COVID patients in ICU, and 65 available adult ICU beds. That means that coronavirus patients were taking up 37.51 percent of all adult ICU beds.

If we go by these news reports and the official data, it seems clear Mississippi is suffering from a shortage of ICU beds. When we look at the big picture, however, questions arise. For instance, in 2019, the Harvard Global Health Institute found that Mississippi had 931 ICU beds available. Short of actually losing the health care professionals needed to operate the ICU beds, it’s worth asking how the total number of ICU beds decreased from 931 in 2019 to 885 on January 16, 2021.

According to the Kaiser Family Foundation’s 2018 study on the total number of hospital beds per 1,000 people in every state, Mississippi had 4.0 beds per 1,000. That is the fourth highest number of hospital beds in the country (the national average is 2.4) followed by North Dakota (4.3); the District of Columbia (4.4); and South Dakota (4.8). Further, Becker’s Hospital Review reported in 2019 that the Kaiser Family Foundation found that Mississippi ranked 7th in the nation for states with the most rural health clinics (186 clinics). There are so many rural clinics in Mississippi that, according to a Mississippi Today article, rural clinics are on the verge of shutting down because of low patient volumes.

Of course, ICU beds and standard hospital beds (not to mention rural health clinics) are not equivalent. ICU beds have more specialized equipment and accompanying staff. However, it does seem that we are better off than most states in terms of the number of ICU and standard hospital beds. Yet, according to Johns Hopkins University’s COVID-19 Mortality Analysis, the United States has a case-fatality ratio of 1.7 percent. In Mississippi, the case fatality ratio is 2.18 percent.

Presuming COVID is the immediate cause of an ICU bed shortage, there are other health care policy factors at play: one of which is Certificate of Need (CON) laws.

In Mississippi, a CON is a law that requires current and potential medical providers to apply to the MDoH in order to expand existing medical facilities, purchase new medical machines, and build new hospitals/health care practices. This requirement, even with an emergency CON process in place, discourages new and existing health care providers from opening facilities to expand medical services and access.

The rationale behind a CON is to ensure that there isn’t an overabundance of medical services/facilities offered within the same area, the idea being that too much competition could drive providers out of business. The first CON law was passed in New York in 1964. In 1974, Congress accelerated the process by tying federal funding to CON health care planning regulations, with the result that every state, except Louisiana, had passed a CON law by 1982.

In a sudden turn of events, the federal CON requirements (and funding) were repealed only five years later. This repeal marks one of the rare occasions when the federal government has retreated from a new regulatory regime and funding structure, suggesting that the economic theory behind CON state planning is, to put it simply, erroneous. Similarly, recent research confirms that CON laws contribute to fewer hospitals per capita.

Since the beginning of the COVID-19 outbreak, 20 states have suspended CON laws, with several others enacting emergency CON provisions. To date, Mississippi has not. This alone is a powerful reminder that CON restrictions are inhibiting health care access, sometimes with fatal consequences.

In conclusion, the limited data available shows that there is a shortage of ICU beds in Mississippi. The coronavirus accounts for 37.51 percent of ICU bed utilization. No data is available to break down the remainder of ICU bed utilization. Repealing or suspending Mississippi’s archaic CON laws, however, would surely help meet the urgent needs of Mississippians.

Sean Singel holds a Master of Public Health from Texas A&M University and a BS from Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center.  His policy interests lie in clinical practice, health insurance, health care administration, and general health policy. Sean enjoys hiking, reading, and spending time with friends and family.

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