House Bill 550, sponsored by Rep. Charles Young, would increase the hours of training for nail technicians from 350 to 600. 

At the beginning of the session, the Board of Cosmetology said they would push for this bill. Mississippi’s 350-hour requirement is in line with the national average of 368. But a bump to 600 hours would be the second highest burden in the nation, which is shared by eight states. Only Alabama’s 750 hours would be greater. 

One of the chief arguments for the additional hours was for sanitation purposes. To address that, this bill would require one hour of continuing education on sanitation from the board. If sanitation is the biggest issue, one hour hardly seems sufficient. And this is the only mention of sanitation in the law.

We should focus on decreasing the burdens to work in Mississippi and figuring out a way to teach sanitary practices within the already allotted 350 hours.

Occupational licensing leads to a decrease in the number of people working and an increase in costs to everyone. That should not be our goal. Rather, we should move toward voluntary or non-regulatory options that help entrepreneurs start and run businesses while providing the maximum options for consumers, as outlined in the High Road to Freedom.

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it violates our principles and therefore must be opposed.  

Read HB 550. 

Track the status of this and all bills in our legislative tracker.

The Mississippi Senate has already introduced at least two measures seeking to lower the mandatory age for kindergarten from the current standard of age six to age five. 

Only nine states force five-year-old children to attend kindergarten. 

Senate Bill 2062 has been introduced by state Sen. Briggs Hopson, the new chairman of the Appropriations Committee. It is one of the few bills this session that has not been double referred by leadership to two committees, meaning it might enjoy an easier road to passage. The other senate bill is SB 2022, sponsored by state Sen. David Jordan. It has been double referred.

Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann said that one of his first priorities will be to fully fund prekindergarten, even suggesting that we need a universal program to capture an estimated 9,000 children not participating in a program. Today, the Senate held hearings on taxpayer funded prekindergarten.

Insofar as there is no difference between state-sponsored pre-K for five-year-olds and a compulsory attendance law for five-year-olds, we treat pre-K expansion and kindergarten expansion as two sides of the same policy. It is worth noting that pre-K expansion being promoted by some in the Mississippi Senate is intended to cover four-year-olds as well. 

Current state policy regarding mandatory kindergarten attendance is that if a parent has already enrolled a five-year-old in a full-day public school program, that child’s continued attendance is mandatory. In other words, attendance for five-year-olds is essentially optional. Hopson’s bill would eliminate this option and require kindergarten for all five-year-olds, even those enrolled in a private school or a home school; or at least those “which promote services that address the cognitive, social and emotional needs of five-year-old children.”

It is worth asking whether these needs are better met by forming close bonds with caregivers, like a stay-at-home parent or grandparent. In any event, educational and psychological experts agree that the best thing a five-year-old can do is play. 

Here are a few facts about mandatory kindergarten/pre-K that show that it is not a common policy because the costs – fiscal, personal and social – outweigh any possible benefits:

No state requires mandatory pre-K for four-year-olds

Florida, Georgia, and Oklahoma offer universal pre-K. Participation in these programs is voluntary and is available to anyone desiring to participate. The programs are open to ages 4 through 5. 

No state has close to 100 percent pre-K participation

The percentage of pre-K aged children attending a state-subsidized pre-K program vary, even within the states that offer it universally such as Florida 77 percent, Georgia 60 percent and Oklahoma 74 percent.

Pre-K and kindergarten expansion is expensive

Some states, such as Georgia, Florida and New York, have had large plans for universal pre-K without having consistent funding to implement these plans. While funding may be allocated to pre-K for a time, this often changes in times of economic downturn when states are required by to cut costs or raise taxes.

Pre-K and kindergarten expansion increases prices for working families

Universal pre-K provided by the government encourages child care providers to increase the amount they charge for their services. When children ages 3 and 4 are mostly in government pre-K programs, the higher overhead costs associated with the care of younger children (due to requirements of more staff, regulatory expenses, etc.) are no longer counterbalanced by the higher profits earned by child care providers when caring for those ages 3 and 4. In light of these factors, childcare providers are forced to increase their prices for younger children, thus amplifying calls to expand pre-K to even younger children. This same crowd out effect will occur if five-year-olds are forced to attend kindergarten.

Few states force five-year-olds to attend kindergarten

Only nine states: Arkansas, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maryland, New Mexico, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Virginia, as well as the District of Columbia, require compulsory attendance for 5-year-olds. These states rank anywhere from fifth (Connecticut) to 50th (New Mexico) in their K-12 educational performance ranking, undermining claims that there is even a correlation between mandatory kindergarten attendance and academic performance. 

Few countries mandate pre-K for four-year-olds

Eight countries require compulsory education for four-year-olds. These are: France, Israel, Argentina, Brazil, Hungary, Greece, England, and Luxembourg. Again, these countries rank anywhere from fifth (France) to 30th (Brazil) in educational performance.

Not many countries mandate kindergarten for five-year-olds either

These countries are Cyprus, Latvia, Scotland, Netherlands and are equally as varied in their educational rankings, from ninth (Netherlands) to 50th (Latvia). 

Fade out is real

A great deal of uncertainty exists regarding the actual effectiveness of pre-K in giving children an educational advantage because of the varying results and dynamics brought about by the effects of “fade out.” Fade out is the phenomena when children who attend pre-K do not later demonstrate that their time spent in a program gave them an advantage in later grades.

Not a good use of taxpayer funds

The uncertainty regarding the effectiveness of pre-K calls into question whether it merits further government funding. For instance, a landmark study of Tennessee’s pre-K program found that academic gains achieved by students in Tennessee pre-K classrooms began to fade out by first grade and vanished by third grade.

Mississippi’s pre-K program remains unproven

The Mississippi PEER Committee found in a recently released report that the Mississippi Department of Education needs a better evaluation criteria for program participants and uses a curriculum that isn’t evidence-based because it hasn’t been tested at multiple, random sites across heterogeneous populations.

Experts on the Left question pre-K

Policy groups as varied as the Brookings Institution and the National Conference of State Legislators have noted that since the actual effectiveness of pre-K in preparing children for primary school has not been verified, policies regarding pre-K should be viewed with a great degree of caution. 

Experts on the Right question pre-K

The Heritage Foundation argues that since universal pre-K has not been scientifically verified to bring about its promised results, it cannot be justified enough to institute the higher taxes and further government control that it would necessitate. In short, “universal preschool may do more harm than good.” Likewise, the Cato Institute has noted that although a great deal of political rhetoric has been put forth to promote the concept of universal preschool, the empirical evidence necessary to make soundly grounded policy decisions does not support the efforts necessary to make universal pre-K a reality.

The city of Vicksburg is ready to welcome electric scooters to their town. 

According to WLBT, the city is working with scooter company Blue Duck, and has designated a certain area where scooters can be located and a time they can run. 

“This is just another tool to make Vicksburg different because we will be the first in the state of Mississippi to have them and this is only a trial, a pilot program for one year,” Vicksburg Mayor George Flaggs said.

Electric scooters are just the latest technological development that has been made available to citizens, only to be stymied by local governments. With Vicksburg being an exception. 

For some, micromobility is a touristy gimmick. For others, it has helped to solve the first-mile and last-mile gaps.

In the past few years, dozens of scooter and bike companies have sprung up to meet the needs of consumers expanding to many major and midsized communities, along with college towns. 

Yet at the same time, scooters have hit some roadblocks with city governments opting to ban the service, often describing it as a nuisance. Essentially, the same treatment ridesharing services received from Mississippi governments not too long ago.  

Though scooters are generally designed for urban areas, of which Mississippi has few, residents of midsized communities, particularly college towns, could stand to benefit greatly from local deregulation.  

Oxford and Starkville stand out as the most logical destination for scooters. 

Students would no longer have to worry about parking or missing a bus to class as scooters or electric bikes could supplement their transportation needs. While scooters have never made it to Oxford, they lasted less than a month in Starkville. 

The city brought scooters in on a trial basis, while Mississippi State had a ban in place. Naturally, the confusing laws led many students, the biggest user of scooters, to bring the scooters on to campus, drawing the ire of university officials. Lime, the scooter operator, decided to leave the city as a result. And students were again left without this option. 

In larger cities like Jackson or tourist towns along the Coast, the introduction of scooters could radically transform how transportation is thought about. That is what Vicksburg is taking advantage of. 

The dangers of scooters are not different than the dangers of any other mode of transportation. There are people who are reckless, whether it’s on a scooter or behind the wheel. We can control bad behavior without punishing everyone else. The government just needs to err on the side of individual liberty and personal responsibility.

After several delays, the Mobile City Council voted to spend $3.04 million in taxpayer funds on bringing passenger rail service to the city.

The resolution passed 6-1 after Mobile Mayor Sandy Stimpson agreed to support the measure, contingent upon an upcoming study on how the service would affect CSX freight service to the Port of Mobile and whether other matching funds to secure the service are provided. 

Stimpson’s letter also said that any decision by the city to participate in the grant was not a financial obligation for Mobile county or the state of Alabama.

District 5 Councilman Joel Daves, a long-term critic of the project, was the lone dissenting vote.

Mississippi has already committed about $15 million in state taxpayer money to the project, with Louisiana adding $10 million. The decision came one day before a federal deadline to receive the matching funds from the federal government.

Mobile’s outlay would be matching funds for Amtrak over the next three years starting in 2023. This twice-daily service would connect the Port City with New Orleans via CSX-owned tracks that run along the Mississippi Gulf Coast.

“They will get on that train to come to our two bowl games (the Senior Bowl and the Lendingtree Bowl) and the Moonpie Drop,” said District 1 councilman Fredrick Richardson. “They will get on that train to get on the cruise ship. The Clotilda (the last slave ship to arrive in the U.S. in 1859) will be a gold mine and people from around the world will come to see the Clotildaand they’ll do it on the Amtrak train.

“Those of you who say you can go to New Orleans easier (than a train), I guarantee that you are going on the interstate built by the federal government and that’s our taxpayers’ money. You’re being subsidized. You didn’t build no road to New Orleans. 

“The Federal government built it, with our tax money, so you can go to New Orleans. It’s the same tax money. If we can let you drive a car on the interstate and the government subsidizes (it), you can get on the Amtrak.”

The Southern Rail Commission told the council last week that if it didn’t appropriate the money, the train’s terminus would be in Pascagoula rather than Mobile.

The Federal Rail Administration — under the Consolidated Rail Infrastructure and Safety Improvements Program (CRISI) — is providing up to $32,995,516 in taxpayer funds for improving crossings, bridges, sidings and other infrastructure along the route. 

The federal grants that would be provided to enact Amtrak service are meant to get the service online. The first year, the grants would provide 80 percent of the operating costs, declining to 60 percent in the second year and 40 percent in the third.

A 2015 Amtrak study says that a twice-daily train between Mobile and New Orleans would draw 38,400 riders annually and likely cost about $7 million annually to operate. The SRC has said repeatedly that these numbers are “conservative” and that the train will likely cost less to operate because of ridership higher than the estimates.

Similar routes have existed in the past, but ended because state taxpayer funds were no longer appropriated for that purpose. 

The Southern Rail Commission is an Interstate Rail Compact created in 1982 by Congress and consists of commissioners appointed by governors from Alabama, Louisiana, and Mississippi.

Mississippi’s gross domestic product increased by 1.9 percent in the third quarter of 2019, preceded by a 2.3 percent growth in the second quarter. 

According to data from the Bureau of Economic Analysis, 49 states saw positive growth in the third quarter. Mississippi’s numbers were slightly below the Southeast and national averages, which were both 2.1 percent. This placed Mississippi 31st nationally.

Mississippi’s growth was most prominent in the following industries: Agriculture, forestry, fishing, and hunting, nondurable goods manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail trade. The state outpaced regional and national growth in a couple key sectors. 

The average growth in Southeast for agriculture related work was 0.08 percent, but it grew by 0.40 percent in Mississippi. Mississippi also saw a 0.66 percent growth in retail, up from the Southeast average of 0.52 percent. 

Nondurable goods manufacturing was the fastest growing sector in the quarter, at 10.1 percent. In Mississippi, it grew by 0.37 percent. 

Among neighbors, Louisiana and Arkansas had the fourth and fifth highest growth rates nationally. 

Percentage change in real GDP in the Southeast 

During the first three quarters of 2019, Mississippi’s GDP grew by 1.0 percent, 2.3 percent, and now, 1.9 percent. Data on the fourth quarter will be released in April. 

Unemployment numbers for 2019

While we have seen positive signs from the GDP, Mississippi was the only state in the country to post an over-the-year unemployment rate increase in 2019. For December, 2019, Mississippi’s unemployment rate stood at 5.7 percent, one percent higher than at the same point in 2018. 

Alabama had the largest over-the-year decrease, as their unemployment rate dropped from 3.8 to 2.7 percent. Our neighbors added about 46,000 jobs in 2019, while Tennessee added 50,000.

Mississippi, meanwhile added just 6,000 jobs in 2019 after losing 1,400 jobs in December. 

Mississippi is in a dangerous cycle, but it is one that can be corrected. There are policies the state can adopt that would put Mississippi ahead of the curve when it comes to national policy and positioning the state to be competitive nationwide.

For starters, Mississippi needs to move away from a desire to overregulate commerce and embolden government bureaucrats. Mississippi has more than 117,000 regulations that cut across every sector of the economy. A successful model to stem this growing tide would be a one-in, two-out policy where for every new regulation that is adopted, two have to be removed. If a regulatory policy is so important, let’s make the government prove it. 

The Trump administration adopted a similar executive order in 2017, and the numbers show we are actually seeing decreases greater than two-to-one, and these are not insignificant regulatory reductions. 

This could be particularly beneficial in healthcare and tech policy. No department regulates more than the Department of Health, but our goal should be a push toward free market healthcare reforms that encourage choice and competition. In tech policy, the state has the opportunity to be one of the first states to essentially open the door for innovation, rather than one where entrepreneurs need to seek permission from the state. If Mississippi wants to get in the technology world, and we are convinced this is essential, a permissionless innovation policy in healthcare would be a big step in the right direction. 

We should also not require people to receive permission from the state to work when they do move here. Open the door to productive citizens by allowing for universal recognition of licensing, following the path paved by Arizona. If you have been licensed in one state, that license should be good in Mississippi. Again, we could be ahead of the curve. 

At the same time, our occupational licensing regime should be reviewed. Today, 19 percent of Mississippians need a license to work. It was 5 percent in the 1950s. While there are some occupations where a license is obviously prudent, we’ve expanded into far too many occupations. 

This serves to lower competition and increase costs for consumers, while not providing those consumers with a better product. Occupational licensing is an example of how Mississippi misses the opportunity to grow her economy by acting in defensive ways to protect the slices of our economic pie for the well-connected when the reality is we could create a much bigger economic pie if we encouraged more creative disruption, competition, and risk-taking. 

Finally, Mississippi needs to shed its abundant reliance on government and the public sector. Whether for public assistance, grants, contracts, jobs, or specific tax breaks, the citizens and companies in Mississippi are too dependent on state government. And the state is too dependent on the federal government. We have the third highest level of economic dependence on federal grants-in-aid in the nation (43%) and the fourth highest level of our economy driven by the public sector in the country (55%). Politicians, state agency directors, and government bureaucrats cannot create the economic growth we need. They can, however, work together with our various representatives and create an environment that allows and encourages private economic activities. Ultimately, with such an environment, it will be the entrepreneurs, business owners, productive workers, creative disruptors, capitalists, managers, and consumers who deliver the economic growth we all seek. 

Mississippi can share the success of our neighbors. It will just take work. 

By action of the Board of Supervisors on Thursday, Rankin county has made youth vaping illegal-er. 

The Board voted to prohibit the possession and use of vaping or e-cigarette products for people under the age of 21, according to the Clarion Ledger. Three Rankin county municipalities, Pearl, Flowood, and Brandon, had all recently passed similar ordinances, though the age limit was 21 just for students, but 18 for all others. Similar bills have been introduced in the House and Senate this year. 

One of the comments made by proponents was that the sheriff’s department had confiscated more than 100 vaping products on school grounds. Yet, state law already makes the possession and use of tobacco products on school property illegal, and you have to be 21 to purchase tobacco products thanks to a recent change from the federal government. Even the previous age requirement of 18 was still older than most students. 

The choices of minors won’t change because of government actions. They are doing something that is already illegal. Rather, we are just pushing more people to the black market. And that is where vaping related illnesses generally originate. 

According to a new report from the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), those with illnesses were linked to marijuana vapes – not nicotine – and, at least 85 percent of those were purchased somewhere other than commercial sources. Still, even that number may be lower than the actual statistics. 

Regardless, the CDC has now removed language from their website suggesting people refrain from all vaping products. Instead, they suggest you avoid purchasing products from “informal sources,” more commonly referred to as the black market. 

Yet, proposals to limit vaping products would do just that. 

We’ve played the prohibition game before. It doesn’t end well. During alcohol prohibition, individuals made their own liquor that was often much more dangerous than what you could legally buy prior to prohibition. Today, many people roll their own cigarettes in locales that have absurdly high taxes. Again, these are often more dangerous as you can get more nicotine by leaving out a filter. 

And when it comes to vaping, teens can turn to YouTube for do-it-yourself videos on raising nicotine levels. This won’t change as we pass more laws. 

The bans won’t provide an alternative to current cigarette smokers hoping to kick the habit, nor will they stop teens from vaping. Instead, they will only increase lawlessness. 

In this episode of Unlicensed, Brett and Hunter talk about Gov. Reeves’ State of the State call to reduce regulations, some good early bills that will do just that, National School Choice Week, and wine in grocery stores. We also talk about Penn National purchasing a minority share in Bartstool Sports for more than $160 million. 

Senate Bill 2196, sponsored by Sen. Kevin Blackwell, allows minors to operate an occasional business without a permit or license from the government. 

Other states, starting with Utah, have begun to pass similar laws. This bill is a response to local governments across the country taking aim at occasional businesses run by young kids, usually lemonade stands.

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.

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read the bill here.

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker. 

House Bill 261, sponsored by Rep. Becky Currie, would allow those holding an occupational license from another state to receive one in Mississippi.

The bill would also allow the spouse of a member of the military who is stationed in Mississippi to receive a license if they hold one from another state. 

As of now, a new state resident who is part of a licensed occupation often has to go through the same process as someone receiving their license for the first time with the resultant fees and tests. Also, if the educational requirements for the license in their former state aren’t as stringent, a new resident will have to pay for additional training to make up the difference. 

Mississippi does have limited reciprocity agreements with some states with some occupations to honor their licenses, but HB 261 would end this practice and allow most new residents to trade in their former state’s license with a new Mississippi one with little hassle.

A licensee would have to be in good standing with their former state’s regulators and would need to be licensed for a year to be eligible. The new worker would also have to pass a test to determine their knowledge of Mississippi laws and regulations concerning their occupation.

This bill would require the state’s occupational licensing boards would have to adopt rules to implement the new law by January 1, 2021.

In 2019, Arizona became the first state to pass such legislation that allowed new residents in the Grand Canyon State to bring their licenses with them rather than start the process of licensure again.

Mississippi is in need of occupational licensing reform. According to a report by the Institute for Justice, the Magnolia State is ranked 19thworst in the number of lower-income occupations that require a license. The report found that Mississippi licenses 66 out of 102 lower-income occupations studied.

MCPP has reviewed this legislation and finds that it is aligned with our principles and therefore should be supported. 

Read the bill here.

Track the status of this bill and all bills in our legislative tracker.