With the statewide political campaigns gearing up, we are sure to hear often this year from candidates who say they want to stop government overreach from stifling small businesses, innovative startup companies, and job creation in Mississippi. This is a worthy goal.

But some may wonder, exactly what does this kind of government overreach look like? Where do we draw the line between the proper role of government and unnecessary government interference? 

To find the answer, we need only look to the travails of an innovative technology startup out of Madison named Vizaline. Two Mississippi businessmen put their experience and ideas together to offer something new. Brent Melton had worked in community banks for 42 years and knew they needed a way to understand the boundary lines of smaller properties they financed. For these smaller loans, surveys were neither required nor financially feasible. Scott Dow had spent two decades working with geospatial remote sensing and 3D computer modeling and he knew how to make this idea a reality. 

Together, they created software that could take a properties’ publicly available legal description – which is just cryptic words on paper generated by professionally licensed surveyors – and turn it into something anyone can understand: a drawing of the described property lines on a map.

Vizaline does not conduct surveys. It does not hold itself out as a professional surveyor. It simply takes information already generated by surveyors and puts it into a more user-friendly format. Vizaline only sells its services to small community banks who need and want a more cost-effective and user-friendly way to understand the properties they are financing. These are sophisticated customers. They know exactly what they are getting. And they want it. Nobody is getting duped.

Nevertheless, the government decided it needed to stop these transactions between a willing seller and willing, satisfied customers. The Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors sued Vizaline. The government board claimed Vizaline was engaged in “unlicensed surveying.” It asked the court to shut down Vizaline, and to force them to hand over all the money they have ever earned.

Vizaline fought back. It obtained legal representation from the Institute for Justice and filed its own lawsuit, arguing that the government’s actions were unconstitutional. Everyone in America has the right to free speech, including the right to take existing, publicly available information, and create a new representation of that same information. Moreover, the government board – which is composed entirely of licensed surveyors and engineers – is not trying to protect the public. It is trying to protect its own industry from competition. Unfortunately, for the board, that is not a constitutionally valid function of government. 

While Vizaline’s lawsuit was still ongoing, the Mississippi legislature had an opportunity to stop this government overreach. A bill introduced last session would have clarified that the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors does not have the authority to stop companies like Vizaline from doing business in our state. The legislature missed that opportunity, which is disappointing, given how many of our elected officials campaigned on stopping exactly this type of government overreach.

Vizaline is currently appealing its case in federal court. The Mississippi Justice Institute joined the Cato Institute and the Pelican Institute to file a legal brief supporting Vizaline’s case, and urging the court to uphold all Mississippians’ right to disseminate public information, and to do business free from unnecessary government interference.  

So where is the line between proper exercises of government power and government overreach?  While the government tries to stop it from drawing lines on paper, Vizaline has drawn a new line in the sand against government overreach. Broadly enforcing vague laws simply to protect industry insiders from competition with new, innovative competitors is not a valid function of government. The Mississippi Justice Institute is proud to stand with Vizaline, and would be proud to stand with any Mississippian facing similar government overreach.  

This column appeared in the Meridian Star on May 17, 2019.

When Rachel Sugg first heard about Airbnb doing well in Jackson, she was skeptical.

She, like many others, associated Airbnb with young people and vacation destinations. However, since she and her husband incorporated Airbnb into their real estate business two years ago along with their long-term rentals, her view of who Airbnb serves has changed. 

The Sugg’s placed their first short term rental unit on Airbnb in April of 2017. From then on, it had been booked, and kept booked. 

Two years, three units and 500 people later, Airbnb has turned out to be more profitable for the Suggs then their numerous long-term rentals. And Rachel’s view of Airbnb’s main consumer is different than before.

The majority of those staying in the Sugg’s locations, Rachel has noticed, have turned out to be working class, blue-color individuals, who are, for the most part, coming to Jackson for work related reasons, or college students and their parents. 

Rachel believes that an important draw to Airbnb is not only the price, but the fact that visitors can have a one-on-one experience with their host. With Airbnb, there is always someone local to call who is familiar enough with the area to give an expert recommendation. Having someone so close at hand to act as a personal ambassador to Jackson, changes the whole experience of coming here, into something personal. 

Not only does the personal experience Airbnb hosts provide change negative views of Jackson, but it brings people to the city as well. In her experience, Rachel has had guests change their stays from one night in Jackson, to two days, or more after having a great experience that first evening. Or, in some cases, people who have come to the area for an appointment in Madison have stayed in Jackson at one of the Sugg’s three Airbnbs, because they there was no Airbnb available in Madison. 

Airbnb travelers generally have a different idea of traveling than others might, even if they are traveling for work. Rachel says they tend to be more laid back. They want to get a real feel for the area, not just the touristy version. They want to experience the culture. They want to get to know where they are, not just travel through, staying one night at a hotel then leaving the next morning. 

Rachel has found that the benefits Airbnb provides to the Jackson community are numerous; it draws people in, changes minds about Jackson and Mississippi, incentivizes the upkeep of property, brings money into Jackson and the surrounding area, and not only exposes visitors to Jackson but exposes Jackson residents and their neighbors to completely new people.

It is an experience. And, according to Rachel, it’s good for Jackson. 

According to a recent study, it would take more than 13 weeks to wade through the 9.3 million words and 117,558 restrictions in Mississippi’s regulatory code. Yet we know little about many of those regulations, such as if they are even necessary today.

The Mercatus Center at George Mason University’s James Broughel and Jonathan Nelson wrote a policy snapshot of Mississippi’s regulatory state as part of a national project to analyze regulatory burdens nationwide.

These regulations can impose huge costs as businesses are forced to comply with them and can also become anticompetitive devices, since many of them are written by the industries that are being regulated.

Mississippi is roughly mid-pack in the amount of its regulatory framework. But the one consistent among most states is that the number of regulations are only increasing.

That changed in a big way in one state.

Idaho has a somewhat unique regulatory process. Each year, the state’s regulatory code expires unless reauthorized by the legislature. While this does provide a check that is missing in places like Mississippi, it is normally a formality. But not this year. 

Now, Idaho Gov. Brad Little is tasked with implementing an emergency regulation on any rule he would like to keep. The legislature will consider them next year. And there are certainly needed regulations, just as there are unnecessary or outdated regulations that serve little purpose. 

But, as Broughel has pointed out, the burden on regulations now switches from the governor or legislature needing to justify why a regulation should to be removed to justifying why we need to keep a regulation. 

To reduce red tape, Mississippi could move toward a sunset provision similar to Idaho or introduce a regulatory cap that orders the removal of two old rules each time a new one is added. A thriving economy is one with fewer regulations, a lighter government touch, and more freedom for small and mid-sized businesses.

If a regulation is so important, prove it. 

Unnecessary and burdensome regulations make it harder for Mississippians to earn a living.

According to a new report from Pete Blair with Harvard University and Bobby Chung with Clemson University, occupational licensing reduces labor supply by an average of 17-27 percent. An earlier report from the Institute for Justice found that Mississippi has lost 13,000 jobs because of licensing requirements. 

While licensing was once limited to areas that most believe deserve licensing, such as medical professionals, lawyers, and teachers, this practice has greatly expanded over the past five decades. 

Today, approximately 19 percent of Mississippians need a license to work. This includes everything from a shampooer, who must receive 1,500 clock hours of education, to a fire alarm installer, who must pay over $1,000 in fees. All totaled, there are 66 low-to-middle income occupations that are licensed in Mississippi.

The new report also looks at the varying requirements for occupational licensure, including prohibitions on those with criminal convictions, whether the conviction had anything to do with the occupation or not.

This year, the legislature passed a new law that prohibits occupational licensing boards from using bureaucratic rules to prevent ex-offenders from working. The law requires occupational licensing boards to eliminate blanket bans and “good character” clauses used to block qualified and rehabilitated individuals from working in their chosen profession. 

Under the Fresh Start Act, licensing boards must adopt a “clear and convincing standard of proof” in determining whether a criminal conviction is cause to deny a license. This includes the nature and seriousness of the crime, the passage of time since the conviction, the relationship of the crime to the responsibilities of the position, and evidence of rehabilitation. The law also creates a preapproval process that allows ex-offenders to determine if they may obtain a particular license before undertaking the time and expense of training, education and testing. In addition, the law protects licensed individuals who fall behind on their student loans from losing their occupational license. 

All too often, occupational licenses only serve to protect certain industries, rather than protecting public health or wellbeing. We should continue to look for ways to help people find gainful employment rather than implementing unnecessary roadblocks. Working provides purpose and the opportunity for families to flourish. We should do everything possible to encourage it.

T1 Telehealth is a Mississippi company that provides innovative telemedicine services, but has been limited in the healthcare it can deliver because of government regulations that hampered competition. 

The Mississippi Justice Institute has been representing T1 Telehealth in its efforts to challenge these regulations. On May 9, 2019, after months of negotiations, the Mississippi State Board of Medical Licensure adopted a new proposed rule that will expand telemedicine services in the state by allowing additional providers to offer telemedicine in the emergency room. 

“The new regulations will be a great development, not just for T1 Telehealth, but for all telemedicine providers, for small rural hospitals that rely on telemedicine, and for patients across Mississippi,” said Aaron Rice, the Director of the Mississippi Justice Institute. “The Mississippi Board of Medical Licensure took the right approach to make the regulations fair and to increase access to healthcare in Mississippi.”

In Mississippi, there are 64.4 primary care physicians for every 100,000 residents, far below the national median of 90.8. Many rural hospitals struggle to fund and staff their emergency departments, which require multiple emergency room physicians to take turns covering shifts to ensure 24/7 access. Emergency telemedicine allows these small hospitals to keep their emergency rooms open, by staffing them with physician assistants and advanced practice registered nurses. When a patient arrives, an emergency medicine physician in another location uses audio/visual technology and other tools to see the patient, and to instruct the nurse or physician’s assistant on the care that is needed.

The old regulation prohibited physicians from providing emergency room telemedicine services to small hospitals unless they worked at a Level One Hospital Trauma Center with helicopter support. Mississippi only has one Level One hospital in the state, so there was no competition for this service. However, any physician who is board certified in emergency medicine is capable of providing emergency telemedicine services, and is able to transfer a patient by helicopter, regardless of the type of hospital the physician works for. The old regulation locked out companies like T1 Telehealth, which was the first private telehealth company in the state, even though the company saw a need and believed it could provide better emergency telemedicine services. The new regulation will now allow new companies to compete.

“The thing that Americans like better than anything is choice,” said Todd Barrett, CEO of T1 Telehealth. “People want to have the opportunity to say I don’t like that, but there’s this other option I can try and two competitors in a market understand that. They both strive to be the one people are going to call. That makes everything better and cheaper by helping to keep costs down and improve quality. There are two ways to differentiate ourselves and that’s either price or quality. This new regulation allows us to come in and prove ourselves, show how much better it is, what the results are, and how patients benefit.”

For Barrett, innovating in healthcare is all he has ever done. It is what he knows. Since graduating from Pharmacy School in 1988, he has started and sold three pharmacy companies and a technology company, each time sensing and filling a need.

“Can we create something that allows more patients to be treated and made better with less dollars and if it looks like that we’re interested in seeing how we can fit in and make that happen,” Barrett added. 

The new proposed regulation will be filed with the Secretary of State to allow time for public comments. It will also be reviewed by the Occupational Licensing Review Commission before becoming final. Once the regulation is finalized, many expect to see a new, vibrant market emerge in the provision of emergency telemedicine services. 

A new federal grant program and an emerging technology could be the tools used by the state’s non-profit electric power associations to get high-speed internet to their customers.

On April 12, Federal Communications Commission Chairman Ajit Pai announced a proposal to award $20.4 billion over the next decade toward rural broadband networks in a program called the Rural Digital Opportunity Fund.

This would be repurposed money from the FCC’s Universal Service Fund which already provides money for extending rural broadband service in addition to low-income phone service and low-coast broadband access for schools and libraries.

Thanks to a change in state law, EPAs in mostly-rural Mississippi are well placed to enter the reverse auctions to receive grants from the new federal program. A reverse auction differs from a conventional one since it has one buyer and many potential sellers. 

It would increase Mississippi’s reliance on federal funds. 

The Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act was signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant, went into effect immediately and it allows the state’s 26 EPAs, also known as cooperatives, to provide broadband to their primarily rural customer base.

The new law requires EPAs to conduct economic feasibility studies before providing broadband services, maintain the reliability of their electric service, maintain the same pole attachment fees for an EPA-owned broadband affiliate as for private entities wishing to use the EPA’s infrastructure and submit a publicly-available compliance audit annually.

According to data from the latest FCC wireless competition report, there is a digital divide in Mississippi. Ninety-five percent of urban residents in Mississippi have access to high-speed internet service (defined as 25 megabits per second). In rural areas, only half of residents have access to that level of internet service. In 12 of the state’s 82 counties, five percent of the population or less has access to high-speed internet.

In 27 counties, only 25 percent or less of the population has high-speed internet service available.

The technology that might bridge the divide in Mississippi and in other rural states could be 5G (fifth generation) wireless. Signals in 5G operate on three different spectrum bands that include:

• Low band — 600 megahertz, 800 megahertz and 900 megahertz. 
• Mid band — Frequency bands of 2.5 gigahertz, 3.5 gigahertz and 3.7 gigahertz to 4.2 gigahertz. 
• High band — 28 gigahertz, 24 gigahertz, 37 gigahertz, 39 gigahertz and 47 gigahertz (millimeter wave or high band). 

5G can also be supported on unused parts of the spectrum below 4 gigahertz, which is the frequency range used by present 4G LTE coverage. 

Right now, the FCC has already started auctioning bandwidths in the low band. A recent report by the watchdog group Citizens Against Government Waste recommends that FCC also conduct spectrum auctions with strong oversight for mid band, with the proceeds going to taxpayers. 

According to the report, since 1994, the FCC has conducted 101 spectrum auctions that have generated $121,672,180,000 for taxpayers with the awards of 44,499 licenses. The report also says the mid band auction could generate an additional $11 billion to $60 billion for taxpayers, depending on how much of the spectrum is put on the market.

5G will be much faster, capable in urban areas of speeds of 100 gigabits per second for the high band, which is 100 times faster than 4G. Also, 5G has the advantage of low latency, which is the time that passes between when information is received and when it can be used by the device on the network. This means it could be used to replace conventional WiFi. 

Since 5G uses shorter wavelengths, the antennas can be much smaller, which means a tower can support more antennas. This allows 1,000 more devices per meter than what’s supported by the existing 4G network.

The problem with high band is these wavelength have a much shorter effective range. They require a clear line of sight between the mobile device and the antenna. These signals can easily be blocked by solid objects, rain and even humidity, which would be a problem in sweltering Mississippi summers.

Also, 5G download speeds in rural areas would be only fractionally as quick as those in urban areas with large numbers of antennas, which would be supported by trunk lines made of fiber-optic cable.

These issues would provide complications for using 5G as the means to extend high-speed internet service to rural areas of Mississippi. 

The marketplace is already working on solutions.

AT&T has been testing a way to use power lines (Project AirGig) to deliver 5G service. The technology has already been successfully tested in Georgia and internationally. The company says it could be used to bring high-speed internet to customers in suburban and rural neighborhoods.

Mississippi has among the most limiting cottage food laws in the country. 

Passed just a few years ago, Mississippi’s cottage food operators law allows those who bake or prepare goods at home to sell them to the public without a government inspection or certificate. Because of this law, those who had long been baking without asking government now had permission from the state.

But the law limits gross annual sales to less than $20,000. This is the third lowest sales cap in the county, according to a report from the Institute for Justice. 

Among states that have cottage food laws, only South Carolina ($15,000) and Minnesota ($18,000) have lower caps. Seven other states have a similar $20,000 cap, including Alabama and Louisiana.

Our two other neighboring states, Arkansas and Tennessee, however, have no cap. They are two of 28 states that do not place a limitation on what you can earn. 

Cottage food limitations by state

Among states that have a sales cap, the average is just under $29,000.

Who are cottage food operators?

According to the IJ report, 83 percent of cottage food producers are female while more than half (55 percent) live in rural communities. 

Just a few (20 percent) consider this there main occupation. Forty-two percent say it is a supplementary occupation and 35 percent categorize it as a hobby. And the most significant benefit for most operators was the ability to be your own boss and have flexibility and control over the schedule. Indeed, the ability to balance work and family was a top consideration for female business operators, along with the low operational costs. 

This year legislation would have lifted the cap to $35,000. While there shouldn’t be a cap, that would have been an improvement. It passed the House, but failed to make it out of the Senate. 

While most cottage food operators are micro-enterprises, some do or would like to grow into sizeable operations. And we should support that. 

After all, that should be the goal of the state, to encourage growth. Cottage food businesses enhance the financial and personal well-being of their owners. They provide an in-demand product to a willing consumer. And they positively benefit sales tax collections for the state. 

There has not been evidence to suggest that lightly regulated states pose a threat to public health as some like to indicate. The limitations really just serve to limit competition for established businesses. By eliminating restrictions in Mississippi, we can give consumers new options, grow the economy, and encourage entrepreneurship. 

Mississippi’s economic growth lagged behind most of its neighbors in 2018 even though the state’s economy had its best year since 2008.

The report by the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis, which is part of the U.S. Department of Commerce, estimated the state’s real gross domestic product grew at a rate of one percent in 2018, a big improvement from 2014, when BEA estimated the state’s GDP shrunk by 1.2 percent. 

Since then, the numbers have been small, but steadily improving, with 0.4 percent growth in 2015, 0.3 percent in 2016 and 0.5 percent in 2017. 

Real domestic product is defined as the market value of goods and services produced by the labor and property located in a state.

That ranked the state 42nd nationally, with Alaska in last place with a GDP that shrunk by 0.3 percent. Delaware and Wyoming (0.3 percent) were next worst. Alaska was the only state whose GDP contracted in 2018.

The southeast — which includes Mississippi’s neighboring states plus Kentucky, North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia and West Virginia — averaged 2.6 percent of GDP growth. 

In the region, Mississippi was ahead of only Arkansas (0.9 percent GDP growth) and was edged slightly by Louisiana (1.1 percent).

The best growth rates regionally were Florida (3.5 percent) and Tennessee (3 percent). Washington’s economy grew at a rate of 5.7 percent, best in the nation, followed by Utah (4.3 percent), Idaho (4.1 percent) and Arizona (4 percent).

The biggest sectors contributing to Mississippi’s economic improvement were wholesale trade (0.17 percent), retail trade (0.16 percent), hunting and fishing (0.13 percent) and 0.10 percent growth for both durable and non-durable goods manufacturing.

According to the report, wholesale trade increased 9.1 percent nationally and contributed to growth in all 50 states.

In 2018, Mississippi missed the boat on information services, which the BEA says increased 8.9 percent nationally. The industry’s share of the state’s gross domestic product contracted by 0.02 percent. 

Finance and insurance was the biggest downward mover in 2018, shrinking its share of Mississippi’s GDP at a rate of 0.18 percent. Construction’s share of GDP withered at a rate of 0.04 percent.

Poor fourth quarter numbers dragged Mississippi downward, according to the BEA estimate.

In the fourth quarter of 2018, Mississippi’s GDP growth was least amongst its neighbors at 0.5 percent and ranked 47th, outpaced by Alabama (2.1 percent), Arkansas (1.5 percent), Louisiana (1.3 percent) and Tennessee (1.6 percent).

Texas, which had its GDP grow at a rate of 3.3 percent in 2018, recorded the nation’s best growth in the fourth quarter of 2018 with 6.6 percent. 

More than five years after political dignitaries broke ground in the Biloxi dirt at the corner of Highway 90 and Interstate 110, minor league baseball is not working out quite as well in the Gulf Coast town as some had hoped. Or had been sold by consultants.

In 2013, the city of Biloxi conducted a feasibility study that predicted the stadium would draw 280,000 fans annually, or a little more than 4,000 per game. 

The study, a common exercise in such municipal financing plans, provided city leaders with what they needed to move forward. The city borrowed $21 million to help build the stadium. Unfortunately, for the city – and taxpayers – the hopeful projections of that $25,000 study have not panned out. 

The Shuckers have never drawn more than 180,000 fans in a year, and last year they were down to just over 160,000 in attendance. 

As a result of the lower than predicted numbers, the city is forced to reach into its general fund for about half of the $1.2 million they owe each year on the debt. Many leaders hold out hope that if more development comes to the area, it will increase attendance and revenue.

In another minor league town in Mississippi, there is plenty of development around Trustmark Park in Pearl. An outlet mall, funded in part by the state’s Cultural Retail Attractions Program, Bass Pro Shop, Sam’s Club, and a Holiday Inn all surround the park on land that was mostly swamps not so long ago.

Still, the Mississippi Braves, who play in the Southern League with the Shuckers, drew just over 150,000 last year fans last year. This is down considerably from the 190,000 they averaged in 2016 and 2017, and from 2013 through 2015 when their attendance was over 200,000 each year. 

What has this meant for Pearl? The money from this new revenue stream hasn't been enough to cover the debt on the shopping center and ballpark complex. In 2013, the city paid $967,944 to cover the shortfall, though that amount has declined in recent years, shrinking from $911,748 in 2014 to payments of $589,902 in 2015 and 2016 and $619,048 in 2017, the last year records were available.

The city also has to pay $651,852 annually until 2024 to cover a $4,433,165 agreement with the site developers. These outlays are covering underpayments from 2011, 2012 and 2013 on sales tax diversions from the Mississippi Department of Revenue that the city didn't give to the developer.

The Braves have turned the game of pitting city against city into an art form. They moved their Single-A franchise from Macon, Georgia to Rome, Georgia after securing $15 million to build a new stadium. They received $28 million from Pearl when the Double-A team moved from Greenville, South Carolina. And they were able to secure $64 million from Gwinnett county, Georgia when they moved the Triple-A franchise from Richmond, Virginia.  

But their biggest win, if you will, was in Cobb County, Georgia. The Braves were able to receive $722 million from the county to move the big league team just north of the city in 2017. 

It’s hard to blame the Braves, or any team that receives taxpayer subsidies. Their owner, Liberty Media, is doing what any good owner does; negotiating the best deal for its company and shareholders. And the attraction for mid-sized cities to have a minor league ballpark is understandable. We buy into the glitz or maybe the community pride that comes with having a professional franchise in your hometown. It gives local politicians something to highlight as everyone is convinced that minor league baseball is good for tourism and no matter what the taxpayer cost, the community is better off. Yet, we have mounds of economic data that tell us that simply isn’t true.

As the years pass and as more become aware of just how big of a raw deal sports subsides – minor league or professional – often are for cities, perhaps more local officials will choose not to give in to the economic development game. Or maybe local communities will rise up.

As for Biloxi and Pearl, the best they can do is hope the numbers turn around…and that the Braves and the Brewers don’t go looking for a new ballpark when their leases run out. 

This column appeared in the Madison County Journal on May 1, 2019.