After 24 hours of back-and-forth, the Senate has concurred with changes from the House to a bill that will authorize the cultivation of hemp in Mississippi.
When the adoption of Senate Bill 2725, Mississippi will become the 48th state in the nation to legalize hemp.
We have seen a massive move toward hemp legalization at the state level after the 2018 Farm Bill expanded the cultivation of hemp. Previously, federal law did not differentiate hemp from other cannabis plants, even though you can’t get high from hemp. Because of this, it was essentially made illegal. But we did have pilot programs or limited purpose small-scale program for hemp, largely for research.
Now, hemp cultivation is much broader, with the Farm Bill allowing the transfer of hemp across state lines, with no restrictions on the sale, transport, or possession of hemp-derived products. There are still limitations, but most states have taken the opportunity to find new markets for those who would like to cultivate hemp.
Yesterday, a concurrence vote – which required three/fifths for passage – narrowly failed on a 31-21 vote. We then saw a motion to reconsider entered and withdrawn, before it was entered again prior to today’s concurrence vote.
While there has been an unsuccessful push for years from liberty-minded Republicans and many Democrats to legalize hemp, this bill came out of the Hemp Cultivation Task Force that met last year and heard from officials in various fields. This included law enforcement, who raised multiple concerns over the ability to police this crop that looks like – but isn’t – marijuana.
The bill, like at the federal level, is heavily regulated, and whether Mississippi farmers will see a boom from hemp remains to be seen.
The bill is effective upon passage.
A federal court has ordered the City of Jackson to never again act on its own to restrict the right to openly carry a firearm.
The Order was issued as a Consent Decree after the Mississippi Justice Institute (“MJI”), a non-profit constitutional litigation center and the legal arm of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, filed a lawsuit against the city and Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba on behalf of State Rep. Dana Criswell. The lawsuit challenged the legality of an executive order from Lumumba attempting to temporarily ban the open carry of firearms because of the coronavirus pandemic.
Lumumba allowed his open carry ban to expire on April 30, 2020, three days after the lawsuit was filed. The court’s Order prevents such bans in the future and was agreed to by the parties involved in the lawsuit.
“We are very happy with the outcome of this case,” said MJI director Aaron Rice. “No mayor or other elected official in Jackson will ever again be able to act on their own to take away the right to openly carry a firearm in the city of Jackson, for any reason. We hope city officials can find a way to effectively address violent crime in Jackson, but they must do so in a way that respects the right of individuals to protect themselves.”
Under the Consent Decree, the city cannot take any action that would directly or indirectly prohibit, restrict, or inhibit the open carry of firearms in the city unless Mississippi’s statutes and constitutional law are first changed to allow for that.
“I am very glad to know that this will never happen again in the future,” said Criswell. “Mississippians should be able to protect themselves no matter what city they are in.”
“I am pleased at the result in this case,” said MJI volunteer attorney Sterling Kidd. “I greatly appreciate the opportunity to serve as co-counsel in protecting and vindicating this fundamental right.”
The Consent Decree was issued by Chief U.S. District Judge Daniel P. Jordan, III in U.S. District Court of the Southern District of Mississippi on June 12, 2020. It went into effect immediately.
A copy of the Consent Decree can be found here.
We don’t know what K-12 education will look like this fall, just that things will be different.
What does that mean, what should it mean, and how can parents be empowered to make the best decision for their children and their family?
Here is some of what we know
Schools in Mississippi closed after spring break, which was the middle of March, and every student completed the year “virtually.” Though what exactly that meant varied by the school you attended. To say the transition to distance learning has been hit or miss depending on where you live would be an understatement. (Though that’s certainly true of government education in general.)
But it’s a tough thing to pull off overnight, and we certainly paid the price for never recognizing online learning in Mississippi to this point.
Contrast that with higher education, which has two plus decades of experience, depending on the institution, with online learning. In this case, the transition was relatively smooth. Obviously higher education has long had a vested interest in adopting the online model, it showed, and it paid off.
We also know there will be some investment in expanding internet access. We hear about disparities in high-speed internet on a daily basis. Our Congressional delegation trips over themselves to get money to Mississippi. And whenever the legislature starts spending any of the remaining $900+ million from the federal government, high-speed internet and computers will obviously be a key component. Or it should be. But that will all take time.
Here’s some of the scary
National data shows us that the death rate for those under 18 is essentially zero. In Mississippi, it’s literally zero. So, after months of data, we can report that children have no chance of dying from coronavirus. They’ve also been a tiny percentage of positive cases. Side note: Two children in Mississippi have died from influenza this year. Just to put everything into perspective.
Yet, new federal guidelines would essentially turn government schools into prisons if enacted. In this graphic that has been banned from Facebook, the CDC has laid out various guidelines.
Basically, things that made school fun and can be categorized as positive are now prohibited. Again, these are guidelines, and this is a simplified rundown, but guidelines from CDC carry weight. After all, they’re supposed to be the experts.
Already, the Tupelo school district has said they are not going to use the cafeteria and students will eat in their classroom. I can’t imagine they’ll be the only district implementing that change. The Mississippi Department of Education has offered similar guidelines, encouraging a certain distancing between students.
Parents aren’t sure about next year
Currently, somewhere between 2 and 3 percent of students are homeschooled. Obviously, that increased to essentially every student in the country with the shutdowns, but the idea is that will be temporary.
Still, poll after poll tells us parents aren’t so sure about sending their children back to school. Favorability of homeschooling has skyrocketed, and we see somewhere between 40 and 60 percent of parents saying they are leaning toward that option.
While even the most ardent proponents of homeschooling such as myself know numbers won’t be that large when all is said and done, we also know that just 5 or 10 percent of families leaving government school would be significant. Consider this: If 5 percent of government school students in Mississippi decided to homeschool, that would represent between 20,000-25,000 new homeschoolers. That would double the number of homeschoolers in the state overnight. Imagine it was 10 percent. That’s close to 50,000 kids leaving government schools, probably the number of kids in private school in the state today.
This has naturally led to the attacks on homeschooling we have seen, for a couple reasons. One, every student that leaves government school in Mississippi takes $10,000 with him or her. Obviously, the family doesn’t keep that money for their education, but neither does the government school. Therefore, funding would decrease as the students that are being educated decreases.
The other attack comes from those who believe government, not the parent, should control children. This is partially driven by a dislike for those who are religious. There is a certain belief from the elites that they are smarter than anyone who is religious, along with a general belief that it is the government’s responsibility to raise your child.
One positive of this growing competition is schools are transitioning and offering new options to families. MDE is outlining various reopening models, including hybrid virtual learning and a full-time online program. In Tupelo, students will have the opportunity to do a full distance learning program. Will other schools follow? Probably.
What does the future hold?
The easiest answer for the future of education is we don’t know what it will look like, just that it will be different. And that’s a good thing. Because just maybe this experience of being homeschoolers by necessity has shown us how we can do education differently.
Because when a child is receiving an individualized education, a couple things happen. If a student is excelling at a subject, you can move forward as fast you would like. If you need more material, you can access it. YouTube might be a place for funny videos, but it is an immense library of knowledge if used properly. If there is something your child is interested in, chances are you can find something online to supplement their learning needs.
Similarly, if your child is struggling you can take a step back. Go slower. Maybe take a break on that subject for a couple weeks. It’s not unusual for homeschoolers to be, for example, doing one subject at a 5th grade level and another at a 2nd or 3rd grade level. In fact, the more you do this, the more you’ll learn that numbers and grades don’t really matter. Just learning.
You’ll also learn that as opposed to this idea that you can’t socialize, there are as many groups and extracurricular activities as you would like. Just as long as we’re not all quarantined.
For those who are looking for glimmers of hope through the tragedy that came with the pandemic, perhaps a new approach to education away from the industrial model will be something that remains.
A month ago, governors of Texas, Georgia, and Florida were routinely and regularly mauled by the mainstream media and so-called health experts for opening their states too early. They were going to have blood on their hands, so we were told.
Images of people congregating at Lake of the Ozarks went viral with every blue check on Twitter letting us know how idiotic and dangerous that was. And then there was the MSNBC reporter lambasting a man on air for not wearing a mask. Of course, thanks to the video camera on the phone of that man, he was able to take his own video and we were able to see the rest of the MSNBC crew…without a mask.
Nothing was more important than staying in for the good of everyone else. Work, sports, church, going to the beach or lake. Don’t even think about it. But that was so last month.
As protests began to spread in the wake of the George Floyd murder in Minnesota, many politicians were left with an interesting position. Continue with the lockdowns or take to the streets in large numbers?
Remember, we’ve already had “Reopen” protests that sprung up about a month ago throughout the country, including in Mississippi. These protests were not just vilified by authority figures, but we even had government officials and police departments say protesting was not an “essential activity.” People were soon being handcuffed for being at the park without permission from the crown.
But we’d learn that the current protests are acceptable. If you want to protest against racism or police brutality – two items I agree are wrong – than have at it. More than 1,000 doctors and other health professionals famously signed on to a letter saying we should be protesting because the cause is bigger than the health crisis.
Yale epidemiologist Gregg Gonsalves said President Donald Trump was guilty of genocide for not taking stronger measures to contain the coronavirus. He signed the “protests against racism are more important than stopping the spread of COVID-19” letter.
Jackson Mayor Chokwe Lumumba, who spent most of the past couple months complaining about the lax lockdown mentality of Gov. Tate Reeves and kept his city closed after the rest of the state opened, said he supports the protestors. Reeves, to his credit, has been one of the few balanced voices in America – supporting the rights of the Reopen protests and the protests this past weekend.
Other politicians – such as New Jersey Gov. Phil Murphy – said he supports the current protestors but will continue to go after lockdown opponents.
At the end of the day, the rights of protestors should always be supported. And while they won’t, the politicians who changed their tone on protesting should be called out. Because, call me cynical, but it appears that they were more interested in power, control, and political points than health and safety.
We entered this legislative session with high hopes for alcohol freedom, but that largely died very quickly.
Legislation to allow direct shipment of wine died on the Senate while other bills like wine in grocery stores or Sunday sales were never considered in committee.
During this livestream, MCPP's Brett Kittredge and Hunter Estes talk about Mississippi's alcohol policy, who is blocking reforms, and how we removed certain regulations during the coronavirus pandemic.
Gov. Tate Reeves announced today that the remaining closed businesses in Mississippi will be able to reopen on Monday, June 1 when the ‘Safer at Home’ order expires.
“On June 1, there will be no more closures,” Reeves said. “There will still be health and safety guidelines—but our Safer at Home order will expire, and Mississippi will be open for business. We must do everything in our power to prevent economic catastrophe. That means trusting you to protect your family, while allowing Mississippians to earn a living.”
With the new order, movie theaters, bowling alleys, indoor amusement places, libraries, and museums will be able to reopen. A new ‘Safe Return’ order will be in effect for two weeks, with certain protocols for all businesses.
Those in the vulnerable population are instructed to continue sheltering in place. This includes all elderly individuals (age 65 or older) and individuals with serious underlying health conditions, including high blood pressure, chronic lung disease, diabetes, obesity, asthma, and those whose immune systems are compromised as such by chemotherapy for cancer or any other condition requiring such therapy.
“We are facing two ongoing emergencies. One is the public health crisis that we have been up here every day to talk about. That threat is real, dangerous, and deadly. It is here, and we must face it,” Reeves added. “We also face an economic crisis in this country, the likes of which we have not seen since the great depression. While we have never seen a spike of serious cases in Mississippi, we have seen economic catastrophe. We have to address both.”
Large group gatherings will be limited to 20 people indoors and 50 people outdoors, when social distancing is not possible. When social distancing is possible, those numbers increase to 50 and 100, respectively.
The guidelines for retail, restaurants, bars, salons, barber shops, gyms, and tattoo parlors resume. But restaurants will be allowed to host live music performances and bars that don’t serve food are allowed to reopen.
The legislature is back in session. And while the economic fallout around the forced shutdown of the economy related to the coronavirus pandemic and the subsequent $1.25 billion from the federal government are the leading issues, legislators still have the opportunity to adopt reform-minded measures that will expand individual freedoms, while rolling back regulations.
With a June 9 deadline for committees to report on bills that passed the other chamber, here is a review of some of those bills still alive:
House Bill 1422 would create a pilot program to reduce state regulations at four agencies: Mississippi Departments of Health, Transportation, Agriculture and Commerce, and Information Technology Services. It passed on a largely party-line vote.
HB 1510 would require the state to recognize an occupational license from another state for military families who move to Mississippi. It passed the House unanimously.
Senate Bill 2790 and HB 1104 would give the Occupational Licensing Review Commission the ability to do a review of an existing regulation to determine whether it increases economic opportunities for citizens by promoting competition and uses the least restrictive regulation to protect consumers. Right now, the OLRC, which is comprised of the governor, attorney general and secretary of state, is limited to review only new regulations.
HB 1200, known as the Forming Open and Robust University Minds (FORUM) Act, would permit all forms of peaceful assembly, protests, speeches, guest speakers, distribution of literature, carrying signs, and circulating petitions on campuses of the state’s universities and community colleges. It passed in the House despite large-scale resistance from the state’s universities, particularly Ole Miss, on a largely party-line vote.
HB 4 would increase the number of liquor store permits one could own under present law from one to three. It is now in the hands of the Senate after a very narrow passage in the House.
SB 2552 would remove the prohibition on the amount of beer that can be sold directly to consumers at craft breweries. Right now, brewers are limited to selling either 10 percent of the beer produced there or 1,500 barrels, whichever is the lesser amount and this bill would eliminate this provision. The Senate approved the bill and sent it to the House.
HB 1398 is a small civil asset forfeiture reform bill that would end a practice where law enforcement or prosecutors could request a property owner to waive their rights to their property, often in exchange for charges to be dropped. The new language in the bill will also change the burden of proof for forfeiture to clear and convincing evidence.
SB 2725 and HB 1208, both known as the Hemp Cultivation Act, would allow the cultivation, processing, transportation and handling of hemp under strict guidelines. The Senate version passed with a 35-16 margin while the House passed its version by an overwhelming 104-10 margin.
The process of reopening the state slowly continues with outdoor entertainment businesses being the latest to again serve customers. This includes amusement parks, water parks, go-cart tracks, mini-golf, and other outdoor parks. They could open yesterday.
Schools are also allowed to open gyms and weight rooms per the latest order, and MHSAA announced last week that teams will be able to resume practice June 1.
Gov. Tate Reeves first issued a shelter in place order on April 1, and certain new industries have been able to reopen each week over the past month. This has included retail stores, restaurants, beaches, barber shops and salons, and casinos, most notably. Though they’ve had to open under strict new guidelines and at limited capacity. This has remained consistent.
With businesses closing either temporarily or permanently during the pandemic, more than 220,000 Mississippians filed for unemployment, with claims spiking from 1,000 per week to 30,000 in two weeks. This has stabilized.
As Reeves has said, few businesses remain closed. So, what is closed? Mostly indoor entertainment businesses, such as movie theaters or trampoline parks. But look for that to change in the very near future. Reeves has said he’s working with the Department of Health to develop guidelines for all businesses to be open soon, possibly by June 1.
And this is what Mississippians want, at least based on their traveling habits.
Mississippians are getting out more. According to the latest mobility tracking data from Apple, Mississippians are generally back to their normal pre-pandemic traveling patterns after more than a month of steep decline.
This is a national trend. Save for the most impacted states, including neighboring Louisiana, much of the south, midwest, and interior west, is leaving their house.
As schools throughout the country closed, attacks on homeschooling grew louder and more organized.
Why are we seeing these attacks? Do they have any credence? And what should those who believe in education freedom do?
Corey DeAngelis with the Reason Foundation joined us to talk about these attacks, and why everything that homeschooling opponents are saying is incorrect.