Every session has its share of infighting and ups and downs.

The 2021 session was no exception, as we saw two major issues gum up the process. (Stay Calm: Democracy is supposed to work this way.) Led by Speaker Philip Gunn, the House passed a major income tax reform bill. When the Senate declined to seriously consider this initiative, the House found itself less than enthusiastic about the Senate bills that had crossed over for the House’s deliberation. In turn, the Senate soon found itself feeling the same way about anything the House was working on.

For its part, Senate leadership was pushing a bill to provide a statutory substitute for the recently passed medical marijuana constitutional amendment, in the off chance the initiative should be struck down by the Mississippi Supreme Court. This bill passed the Senate, but failed in spectacular fashion on the House floor. With Initiative 65, indeed, having been struck down by the court, the Senate’s efforts seem prescient, to say the least.  

In the end, the two chambers agreed on enough good (and bad) ideas to keep the wheels of democratic government turning. These are our own personal highlights of the 2021 session:

Protecting Women’s Sports and Title IX. … MCPP led the way in getting the Fairness Act (SB 2536) passed. We initiated this effort last year, working with Senator Angela Hill, and were gratified to see it signed by Gov. Tate Reeves. Mississippi is the second state in the country to enact such protections for female athletes, in spite of stiff opposition from the radical left and woke corporate oligarchs.

Making Mississippi a Destination State for New Residents … MCPP also led the way in getting passed a law (HB 1263) that makes it easier for new residents to obtain a Mississippi occupational license. This legislation builds on the best-in-the-nation Military Family Freedom Act we worked on last year. That law makes it easier for military spouses and dependents to work in Mississippi. The 2021 law, sponsored by Rep. Becky Currie, expands similar opportunities to all new Mississippi residents. We are the eighth state in the country to pass this innovative reform.

Holding off Medicaid Expansion … Mississippi is one of the last states to resist Obamacare by not expanding Medicaid. In spite of strong financial incentives out of Washington, D.C., state leaders, especially the Governor and Speaker Gunn, are standing firm. Medicaid is an expensive, horrible insurance program, as I detail here and here. As an aside, it’s also not much of an option for the “working poor” because it serves as an incentive not to work at all. According to the Foundation for Government Accountability, the majority of able-bodied adults on Medicaid, the population targeted for expansion, are not working at all.

Blocking Welfare Expansion … The HOPE Act, championed by MCPP in 2017, is still the best welfare-to-work law in the country. The Biden administration, however, is encouraging states to pursue policies aimed at expanding welfare participation as much as possible. (For instance, see here.) After one such bill that would have weakened the HOPE Act passed out of committee in the Senate, we got to work and made sure this bad policy died.

Securing Economic Liberty for Mississippi Entrepreneurs (HB 1312) … This law allows individuals in select fields of cosmetology to practice their profession without acquiring thousands of hours of training. Lawsuits filed by the Mississippi Justice Institute were the catalyst for this reform. 

Encouraging States to Balance the Federal Budget … In 2015, thanks to the leadership of House Pro Temp Rep. Greg Snowden and Senator Joey Fillingane, Mississippi became a founding member of the Compact for a Balanced Budget. The Article V compact would force the federal government, not only to craft a budget, but to actually balance it. The compact was scheduled to sunset in 2021, but Mississippi renewed it with the passage of HB 1326. MCPP was the force behind getting the compact passed into law several years ago. 

(Almost) Expanding Healthcare Access via Telemedicine … Although a bill to advance telemedicine stumbled at the finish line, MCPP made significant strides in educating lawmakers about this issue. We have a good foundation to pass reforms in 2022.

(Stay Tuned for) Eliminating the State Income Tax … Speaker Philip Gunn’s bill to eliminate the income tax failed to pass in 2021, but the stage has been set for hearings and a study over the summer. I’ll go out on a limb and predict that we’ll see a major tax cut before the next statewide elections in 2023. 

“People overestimate what they can accomplish in one legislative session and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten.”

In this series, we are conducting a review of what Mississippi lawmakers have accomplished over the last 10 years. The list provided here is not comprehensive, and we feature only the policies we like: some of which were initiated by MCPP (marked by an *asterisk* below), some of which are good ideas we are happy someone else took the lead on.

In the first part of this series, we reviewed education accomplishments. In this part, we are looking at healthcare. After all, education and healthcare are essentially the two biggest priorities in the state budget. K-12 education is the single largest item in the state budget while healthcare (especially Medicaid) is the single largest item in the total state budget (federal and state revenue).

Healthcare policy in Mississippi over the past 10 years has been shaped largely by Obamacare. Mississippi’s response has mostly been limited to managing the damage.

In 2013, Mississippi became the only state to have its application to set up a state-based insurance exchange rejected by the Obama administration. This rejection, from our perspective, was a huge victory because it forced the administration to set up a federal health insurance exchange. The plan was to delay implementation of Obamacare until Republicans could repeal it … except the repeal never happened.*

At the same time, Mississippi is one of 12 states that has declined to expand Medicaid to able-bodied, working-age adults. This mandate was an original feature of Obamacare until the U.S. Supreme Court struck it down as an unconstitutional overreach by the federal government.* It was bad policy then, it remains bad policy now.

One of the high points of healthcare policy in Mississippi over the past few years has been the steady advance of Right to Try. This law waives federal regulations that often hinder the ability of patients with a terminal illness to take advantage of new medications and technologies. We initiated the first Right to Try law in Mississippi in 2015 (SB 2485). Thanks to the leadership of Senator Josh Harkins, the law was expanded in 2016 (SB 2527) and 2020 (SB 2830), making our Right to Try policies among the best in the country.*

Another high point are protections for direct primary care (SB 2687), passed in 2015. This law helped launch the direct care/concierge care movement in Mississippi. The law clarifies that patients can pay cash to see a doctor, instead of using an insurance plan.*

Mississippi also has one of the better telemedicine systems in place. Telemedicine has made a slow, steady advance in Mississippi over the last 10 years. A bill that would have expanded telemedicine further died in conference in 2021, but it’s likely telemedicine will continue to grow in Mississippi.*

Mississippi Center for Public Policy (MCPP) has announced today that Lesley Davis has requested to step down as its Executive Vice President.  After successfully serving as its Interim CEO and then as its EVP after leading the search for the current CEO, she will continue to serve the organization in a policy making role as a member of its Board of Directors.

Announcing the decision, Chairman of the Board, James Herring said “We are incredibly grateful to Lesley for all that she has done to support MCPP; this organization owes her an enormous debt of gratitude.  Lesley joined our Board of Directors in February 2019, and took over as Interim CEO in July 2020, leading our Board through an extensive search to find our new President & CEO.  Since our new President & CEO arrived in January, Lesley has been of tremendous support in her role as Executive Vice-President and as a member of MCPP’s Board of Directors.  We thank Lesley for going above and beyond the call of duty for the past nine months. Her work ethic, skills, knowledge, and passion have helped move this organization forward in our mission of advancing liberty-minded ideals.  Having successfully helped steer our organization through this transition, I am delighted that Lesley has decided to remain on the organization’s Board of Directors.”

Douglas Carswell, the newly appointed President & CEO, said “I am tremendously grateful personally for all that Lesley has done to help me transition smoothly into the role of Chief Executive Officer. She has been an incredible EVP to me, and I am sad to see her go. I look forward to continuing to work with her in her role as MCPP Board member.”

“The Mississippi Center for Public Policy exists to advance the cause of liberty and make the moral case for free markets. Lesley has been, and will continue to be, a great advocate for the conservative cause,” Herring said.

“People overestimate what they can accomplish in one legislative session and underestimate what they can accomplish in ten.”

As the 2021 legislative session comes to a close, we’re conducting a review of all that Mississippi lawmakers have accomplished over the last 10 years. All in all, it’s been a very productive period.

In this series we will be providing highlights of policy reforms passed in a range of different areas: Education, Healthcare, Right to Life, Civil Liberty Protections (“God and Guns”), Welfare/Foster Care, Regulatory Reform and Budgeting/Taxes. This list is not comprehensive, and we feature only the laws we like, many of which were initiated by MCPP (marked by an *asterisk* below).

These are the highpoints in education policy over the past 10 years:

Mississippi passed its first charter school law (HB 369) in 2013. The law was updated and improved in 2015 (HB 859) and, again, in 2016 (SB 2161). Mississippi now has six charter schools.*

Also in 2013, the state enacted the third-grade reading gate program, sponsored by Senator Angela Hill (SB 2347). This law prioritizes teaching kids how to read by third grade. We were the 14th state to pass it. Since this law was enacted, Mississippi’s fourth-grade reading scores (on the NAEP) have dramatically improved.*

In 2013, the state also reformed the way it evaluates districts and schools, replacing an inflated system in which a “C” school was labelled “Successful” with the easy-to-understand format of A-B-C-D-F. We were the 14^th state in the country to enact this policy (SB 2396).*

Two years later, in 2015, the Legislature passed the Equal Opportunity for Students with Special Needs Act (SB 2695), sponsored by Senator Nancy Collins and championed by Rep. Carolyn Crawford. This law creates a scholarship program that allows children with special needs to attend a private school if that school can better meet their needs. Mississippi was the third state in the nation to enact this kind of program.*

In 2020, Mississippi became the second state in the country to pass an innovative apprenticeship/internship program called Learn to Earn, sponsored by Rep. Kent McCarty (HB 1336). Learn to Earn enables kids in public school to obtain access to high-quality educational opportunities with businesses and nonprofits. *

Also worth mentioning is that lawmakers gave teachers a pay raise in: 2021 ($1,000); 2019 ($1,500); and 2014 ($1,500).

“I’ve been thinking a lot about Medicaid, and I’m concerned. I believe Medicaid is suffering from an identity crisis. Medicaid doesn’t know what it wants to be, and it doesn’t know its purpose in life. Some people want Medicaid to expand. I just want it to work.”

… Such are the musings of a healthcare policy wonk in Mississippi.

I have been discussing Medicaid, and healthcare generally, for many years now. I am no longer surprised when people do not know the difference between Medicare and Medicaid. I am surprised, however, when proponents of Medicaid expansion do not seem to understand what Medicaid actually is. For instance, that the Mississippi Division of Medicaid is not a healthcare provider, but a healthcare purchaser and that this distinction has significant consequences.

Medicare is a (mostly) single-payer, national insurance program fully funded by the federal government. By contrast, Medicaid is a joint federal-state program, with lots and lots of federal strings attached.

Medicare is a government-subsidized insurance plan for the elderly. Medicaid is a government-subsidized insurance plan initially created to help the blind, disabled, pregnant women, and children.

Now that we have that straight, what, exactly, is Medicaid?

Medicaid is an insurance program. But Medicaid is also a welfare program. This is the root of the problem for Medicaid. This is why costs keep going up, and this is one reason fraud is such a problem.

Medicaid is the largest single insurance plan in the United States, with approximately 75 million recipients. By contrast, Medicare has 44 million enrollees. This means that the federal agency (CMS) that pays for Medicaid/Medicare is the largest single-payer for healthcare in the United States. In short, if Medicaid were an insurance company it would be huge.

As an insurer, Medicaid does not operate like other insurers. To begin with, this is because health insurance in the United States does not work the way other kinds of insurance do. Consider how your auto insurance or homeowner’s insurance works. Auto insurance does not generally cover a flat tire. Homeowner’s insurance does not cover routine repairs and renovations.

Health insurance, however, covers a much wider array of services than do other types of insurance. It covers preventative care (comparable to controlling for termites or adding gutters, if we are comparing the body to a house). It covers emergency care (comparable to a fire or a flood, which is what typical homeowner’s insurance covers). It covers non-emergency, routine care (comparable to fixing the foundation or installing storm windows).

One reason health insurance is so expensive – though many people do not realize it because the cost is often automatically deducted from their paycheck – is because it covers so much.

Because it covers so much, Medicaid is just plain expensive, all the more so because healthcare prices keep rising. And when I say expensive, I do not mean to the recipients, I mean the overall price tag for the federal government and the states – that is, taxpayers and future debt holders. (This is not even to mention the cost-shifting that leads to increased prices for private insurance customers.)

Another reason Medicaid is expensive is because it is not just an insurance program, it is a welfare program. Indeed, unlike TANF (cash welfare) and other welfare programs, Medicaid is an open-ended entitlement. This means anyone eligible for Medicaid has a legal right to enroll. Federally mandated coverage groups include children, very low-income parents, pregnant women, and aged, blind, and disabled individuals receiving SSI (Supplemental Security Income).

States may cover optional services and populations, and many do in order to drawdown even more federal funds. At the same time, states are prohibited from implementing enrollment caps or individual spending caps. The only real limit on Medicaid spending is demonstrated need. Consequently, as healthcare economist Robert Graboyes puts it, Medicaid is “a market perpetually in a state of excess demand.”

To translate, this means that Medicaid spending is very hard for states to control. Advocates of Medicaid expansion claim it is a great deal because the federal government is paying 90 percent of the cost. This sounds a lot like renting a $10 million mansion at a 90 percent discount. The mansion may be 90 percent off, but you still need to come up with a million dollars in rent every year. Except in the case of Medicaid, that $1 million payment this year could turn into $2 million next year and $3 million after that. And there is really nothing you can do about it.

In order for Medicaid to work better, two things have to happen. First, Medicaid needs to begin operating like other welfare programs. This means enrollment is going to have to be limited. (Which also means expanding Medicaid to able-bodied, working-age adults is a very bad idea if your goal is to provide healthcare to those who really need it.)

Apart from limiting enrollment, which states cannot do right now, the most obvious way to control Medicaid costs is to cut payments to providers. This approach has a significant downside because it will encourage more healthcare professionals to stop taking Medicaid altogether.

The second thing that needs to happen is to begin treating Medicaid insurance as we do other kinds of insurance. This would mean transforming Medicaid into a catastrophic coverage type plan that only pays for major health events and then pairing that coverage with a publicly funded large Healthcare Savings Account (HSA). Such an account would give Medicaid recipients an incentive to control costs for themselves and to invest more in their long-term doctor-patient relationships.

I am not holding my breath for these two reforms to occur anytime soon. The Biden Administration is intent on “increasing access” to healthcare by increasing enrollment in Medicaid, regardless of whether this actually increases access or improves healthcare outcomes. That said, it is important to acknowledge that Medicaid is not like other kinds of insurance or, even, other kinds of welfare. And these are two reasons, among many, that make expanding Medicaid bad policy for Mississippi.

Who was America’s greatest President ever?  Was it George Washington, who beat the British and helped establish the Republic?  How about Abe Lincoln, who saved the Republic and extended Constitutional freedoms to every American? 

My personal favorite President is Ronald Reagan.  He extended American liberties across the globe when he won the Cold War.

The truth is that America has been blessed by good leadership for much of her existence, and there are plenty of other good Presidents to choose from.  But things have not always been that way.

Who would you rank as the worst ever American President?

For me, Lyndon B Johnson has to be a strong contender for that title.  Reading Robert Caro’s magisterial biographic series about LBJ reveals some unflattering truths about the 36^th President.  LBJ comes across as both ruthless and venal.

Yet it is not so much LBJ’s character that condemns him as the consequences of his time in office.  LBJ attempted to lay the foundations for what he called ‘the Great Society’.  What he sowed instead were the seeds of social decay, which Mississippi and other states have been struggling with ever since.

Under Lyndon Johnson, the size and role of the state increased dramatically, with social spending programs introduced across much of America for the first time.  As government grew, welfare dependency emerged and created a system of supplicant Americans, beholden on politicians for handouts.

Far from elevating the conditions of Americans, the expansion of welfare under LBJ has reduced many to a position of dependency.

What ought to alarm us today is that the system of dependency has just been expanded dramatically over the past year, especially here in Mississippi. 

When Covid first struck, many of the limitations that there had been on the receipt of welfare were suspended.  The amount paid out has been increased significantly, too.  These changes were presented at the time as temporary measures designed to help those that had lost their job.

What is becoming increasingly clear is that unlimited access to welfare support has all kinds of harmful consequences – both on society and those receiving welfare checks. 

Talking to a local business owner in Jackson the other day, I was surprised to learn that they are struggling to cope with customer demand.  With the Covid situation improved, business, they said, was getting back to normal.

The trouble, they said, was that they found it hard to get folks to come back to work. Employees who had left when the Covid crisis first hit were unwilling to return since they would be worse off working than retaining public benefits.

LBJ’s legacy pervades our system of education, too.  Changes that were supposed to ensure every American had the same opportunities in life have ended up embedding low expectations.  There are too many districts in our state that have had F-ratings one year after another.  This is because, to be blunt about it, too many schools are run in the interests of those on the payroll, rather than in the interests of young people needing a head start in life.

What can we do about it?  We need to undo the legacy of LBJ.  That means reforming the welfare system and the education system to ensure that there is accountability for outcomes.

We need to ensure that the rules on who receives welfare, and under what circumstances, are returned to the state level.  Mississippi needs a set of rules to ensure that those that get welfare do so because they have fallen on genuinely hard circumstances, not as a lifestyle choice. 

In education, we need to stop funding institutions, and ensure that we fund individual students instead.  Teachers should be rewarded for their successes and improved performance. 

There is nothing inevitable about some of the long term social and economic problems that have festered since the 1960s.  Looking around the world, the free market has managed to elevate the condition of people of every culture, color, country, and continent.  We need more free market reform here in Mississippi too.

Drones are one of the greatest tools of modern technology. In the hands of well-intentioned actors, drones have the potential to increase economic prosperity, protect communities, and save lives.

Drone technologies have applications in surveying, farming, insurance, transportation, law enforcement, search and rescue, construction, and much more. Quite literally, “the sky is the limit" for this tech.

Despite the enormous potential for good that drone technology carries, there are risks from bad actors. Recent national security reports have indicated that some drones in the United States are being exploited at varying levels by the Chinese government. These drones can operate as a type of “Trojan horse” for the Chinese intelligence apparatus.

Recent federal inquiries into Chinese drone manufacturing companies found questionable data-sharing practices. These practices subjected drone user data in the United States to potential use by the Chinese government for intelligence and cyber operations.

According to a Department of Homeland Security report, Chinese-manufactured drones are being used by the Chinese government to collect intelligence on key U.S. infrastructure and assets. For security reasons, the U.S. Army banned the use of drones that a large Chinese drone company manufactured. In January 2021, the U.S. General Services Administration announced that federal contracts could no longer be used to purchase Chinese-made drones. Likewise, the Department of the Interior grounded hundreds of drones in its fleet over similar security concerns.

In light of the Chinese government's communist policies, its indiscriminate collection of drone data from Chinese companies comes as little surprise. Companies based in China are required to directly funnel their data to the Chinese government in order to cooperate with state intelligence and espionage operations.

Under the Chinese National Intelligence Law implemented by the Chinese government in 2017: “All organizations and citizens shall support, assist, and cooperate with [Chinese] national intelligence efforts.” This mandate includes Chinese technology companies such as drone manufacturers.

While the federal government in Washington has already taken steps to protect national security related to this issue, state governments have yet to seize the initiative. This is no less true in Mississippi. Even though the federal government has imposed multiple bans on the use of Chinese drones by its agencies, Mississippi state and local entities have unwittingly continued to purchase Chinese drones with taxpayer dollars. An analysis of Federal Aviation Administration records by the Mississippi Technology Institute found that Chinese companies manufactured 70 percent of all registered government drones in Mississippi.

There are several possible implications if Mississippi government drone data were to fall into the hands of the Chinese government:

• Surveillance of critical infrastructure

Many government drones have been used to survey critical infrastructure such as road systems and utility infrastructure. Services critical to health, safety, and industry are also at risk. Data gathered by Mississippi government drones could prove invaluable to Chinese state actors in many scenarios, ranging from intelligence gathering to cyberattack planning.

• Data infiltration

Chinese drones have been found to have embedded data collection functions inside the drone operation software. A cybersecurity analysis conducted on a leading Chinese drone software package found that the software allowed data transmission to third parties behind “the Great Firewall of China, where it is accessible to the Chinese government.” This carries unique concerns for Mississippi government drones since they often connect to government networks containing sensitive information. Additionally, this compromised drone software could serve as a potential “backdoor” for hackers to access sensitive government information.   

• Monitoring of Americans

Perhaps most significantly, potential Chinese access to drone data poses a threat to the protection of American citizens’ privacy and security. Using its military hackers, the Chinese government has already initiated several cyberattacks that stole the personal information of millions of Americans. Drone data could be used as yet another tool to compromise Americans’ information.

Mississippi policymakers should consider reforming state and local drone policy to remove the risk of Chinese data infiltration. The solution is relatively simple and inexpensive:

• Deactivate all Chinese drones used by Mississippi government entities

The first policy step that could be taken to eliminate the Chinese drone threat would be to require all state and local government entities to stop using Chinese drones. This would eliminate the security risk.

• Purchase new drones to replace Chinese drones

State and local entities should be reimbursed for the cost of a new non-Chinese drone to replace any Chinese drones currently in use. The cost would likely be as low as $50,000 total. As Mississippi responded to this emerging threat, reimbursements for new drones would provide a seamless transition for government entities that would continue to need drone capabilities. This would allow them to continue utilizing drone technology without being required to draw additional funding from their own budgets.  

Protecting American national security is a shared responsibility between the federal government and the states. Mississippi has the opportunity to lead the way among states and take steps to remove the security threats associated with using Chinese drones. Policymakers would do well to consider the implications of a lack of action.

The state government has a responsibility to ensure that taxpayer dollars are used to protect Mississippi citizens. Removing Chinese drones from government operations would be one more way for Mississippi lawmakers to do exactly that.

The secret to good legislation is much like the secret to making good, healthy food. Follow the recipe, use the right ingredients, and leave out the bad stuff. Unfortunately, there's a lot of junk that gets cooked up in the Legislature these days.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy uses its Legislative Tracker to grade and analyze all legislation that makes its way out of committee. Recognizing this, we thought it would be appropriate to offer a clear and concise statement regarding the principles that go into evaluating legislation.

Bill analysis conducted by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy utilizes specific criteria to determine the nature, where possible, and the essential features of proposed legislation in relation to its potential impact on freedom and liberty in the state of Mississippi.

If the answer is YES to any of the guiding questions stated beneath the enumerated criteria provided below, then the proposed legislation is identified as BAD POLICY for Mississippians within our Legislative Tracker.

CRITERIA:

1. Individual liberty
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, encroach upon individual liberty?
     • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, ALSO apply state statutes in a manner that is inconsistent with our nation’s founding principles?
2. Scope of government
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, expand the scope of government beyond its original purpose as outlined by our founding documents at either the federal or state level?
3. Transparency and Accountability
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, decrease transparency and/or accountability in government at any level or in any bureaucratic/administrative agency or its functions?
4. Taxes
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, increase taxes?
     • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, ALSO result in a net deficit to individual liberty and/or increase the scope of government beyond its original purpose?
5. Regulations
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, create new unnecessary restrictions that limit our economic growth and unfairly restrict our personal liberties?
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, amend existing unnecessary restrictions that limit our economic growth and unfairly restrict our personal liberties in a manner that sustains and/or increases the existing restrictions?
6. Personal Responsibility
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, reduce personal responsibility or create a government solution to a personal issue?
7. Strong Families
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, weaken families in any way whatsoever?
8. God-Given Dignity of All Human Beings
   • Would the proposed legislation, if enacted, harm the unborn in any way whatsoever or encourage prospective mothers to choose death for their unborn child?

“What happened in our nation’s capital yesterday was wrong”, said Judge James Herring, Board Chairman, speaking on behalf of the Board of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “Those ugly scenes in our legislature should sadden every American patriot.” 

“The Mississippi Center for Public Policy stands to advance the constitutional ideals of liberty.  It can never be consistent with those principles to resort to mob violence”, he added. 

“As a leading Conservative think tank in Mississippi, we believe America is at her greatest when she remains true to her Founding Ideals and to the Constitution.”