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Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves led the Republican ticket for governor but narrowly missed the majority needed to avoid a runoff. In the three-way race, Reeves won 49 percent of the vote, followed by former Supreme Court Justice Bill Waller at 33 percent and State Rep. Robert Foster at 18 percent.

Reeves and Waller will meet in a runoff on August 27. The winner will face Attorney General Jim Hood who cruised to the Democratic nomination in a field of eight candidates. Hood is largely seen as the most competitive Democratic nominee for governor since Ronnie Musgrove lost his re-election bid to Haley Barbour in 2003. 

Among large Republican counties, Reeves cleaned up in South Mississippi. He won an outright majority in the lower six counties, including big numbers in population centers of Hancock (60 percent), Harrison (60 percent), and Jackson counties (65 percent). He won in the Pine Belt, east Mississippi counties such as Lauderdale and Lowndes, and Northeast Mississippi. Many of those counties were voting in the Republican primary in large numbers for the first time. With 97 percent of precincts reporting, Reeves won at least a plurality in 72 of the 80 counties that had reported numbers.

Republican gubernatorial breakdown by county

Reeves led most counties in the state, while Waller's base was centered around the Jackson area.

Waller’s strength was in the metro area. He easily won Madison (62 percent) and Hinds (59 percent) counties, but also won a plurality in Rankin county, Reeves home county. Those three counties gave Waller about one-third of his total vote. Foster, who is from Hernando, won Desoto and Tate counties. 

For those looking just at numbers, 2019 will be the year Republican primary voters finally outpaced Democratic primary voters despite the GOP holding the governor’s mansion for 24 of the past 28 years. 

In the race for Attorney General, Treasurer Lynn Fitch led the field and she will face Attorney Andy Taggart in the runoff. Taggart narrowly defeated State Rep. Mark Baker for the second spot. Baker won his home county of Rankin plus a few other smaller counties, Tagart won Hinds, Madison, and Yazoo counties. Fitch won the rest of the state. 

State Sen. Michael Watson defeated Public Service Commissioner Sam Britton 53-47 for the GOP nod for Secretary of State. And David McCrae will be the Republican nominee for Treasurer, defeating State Sen. Buck Clarke 62-38. 

In the State House, five liberty-minded Republicans defeated their primary opponents. This includes Reps. Joel Bomgar, Dana Criswell, Dan Eubanks, Ashley Henley, and Steve Hopkins. Notably, Bomgar and Hopkins both had opponents who had been endorsed by Gov. Phil Bryant but that wasn't enough to put them across the finish line.

And there looks to be a couple significant shakeups among the Republican leadership. Speaker Pro Temp Greg Snowden appears to have been defeated by Billy Adams Calvert and House Ways and Means Chairman Jeff Smith is trailing Dana McLean in his bid to return to Jackson. 

The Office of State Auditor released its annual exceptions report this week. The auditor’s office staff recovered more than $1.5 million in fiscal 2019 and issued 64 demands for more than $4.6 million. 

The report outlines funds from misappropriations by government officials from either violations of the law or accounting errors. The 64 demands issued by the auditor’s office were 24 more than last year.

"The Office of the State Auditor continues to serve as a watchdog organization to ensure that tax dollars are protected," said Auditor Shad White. "We pledge to perform our jobs with integrity, honesty and a commitment to excellence. We continue to protect the public’s trust through evaluations of accounting practices and aggressive investigations of alleged wrongdoing."

Taxpayers are owed more than $13.5 million in unpaid civil demand letters by governmental officials issued by auditor’s office. 

If the official doesn’t pay the requested amount, the auditor can take the case to a local district attorney or the Attorney General’s office for prosecution. Public officials are required to have a surety bond to protect taxpayers and the auditor’s office can recover part of the demand from the bonding firm.

The report also details previous cases dealt with by the auditor’s office and the disposition of funds. The auditor’s office can issue demand letters to government officials responsible for misappropriated funds after an investigation concludes. 

Among the cases the auditor’s office pursued in fiscal 2019 include:

Department of Public Safety Commissioner Marshall Fisher attempted to link the cultivation of hemp and laboratory-created synthetic cannabinoids (often known as spice) laced with the opioid fentanyl in testimony Monday.

Fisher made the remarks in reference to the lack of quality control over cannabidiol (CBD oil) products, which is being researched as a possible seizure-arresting medication at the University of Mississippi Medical Center in addition to use in dietary supplements.

 “There’s no vetting process that I’m aware of whether these (CBD) products are actually perused by anybody before they’re put out there,” Fisher said. “There’s story after story, anecdotal stories out here on the streets and in the papers about the spice and the deaths. 

“There’s no quality control with people selling this as narcotics. You have bodies all over this country, people in funeral homes and cemeteries who’ve died of fentanyl overdoses because of fentanyl being mixed with other drugs.” 

Listen to audio of Fisher

He was speaking at the first Hemp Cultivation Task Force meeting at the state Capitol. The task force was created by House Bill 1547 to study the potential for cultivation of hemp, how to regulate it and its possible effects on the state’s economy. A report of recommendations issued by the task force is due to Gov. Phil Bryant by December 6.

Task Force chairman Andy Gipson, the state’s agriculture commissioner, said that he wants the report to be well thought out and evidence based. He also said the group will consider the challenges and opportunities that hemp can present the state.

Hemp is the same Cannabis sativa plant that is marijuana, but the difference is the amount of the psychoactive substance Tetrahydrocannabinol, also known as THC. According to the farm bill passed by Congress in 2018, hemp is defined as strains of the cannabis plant with a THC level of 0.3 percent or less.

Don’t expect any discussion of legalized marijuana at the task force meetings, because Gipson said the task force won’t be engaging in any other issues other than those related to hemp cultivation.

Fisher said one of the problems for law enforcement is that they can’t tell the difference between hemp and marijuana, barring a chemical test to deduce the THC content that would have to be done in the state’s crime lab. 

He says the lab is 400 drug exhibits behind every month because it is short staffed and underfunded.

Hemp can be used to manufacture products such as textiles, rope, insulation and animal feed, while it can also be grown for CBD oil extraction.

A large contingent of farmers on hand were supportive of the chance to help build a market for hemp. 

“As a producer, I’d like to see hemp be allowed to be raised so that farmers would have the option of another crop in their rotation,” said Paul Dees, who represents the Delta Council on the task force and is a farmer himself.

According to the Michael Ledlow, the director of the Bureau of Plant Industry at the state Department of Agriculture and Commerce, hemp has no herbicides or pesticides certified for use with it by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Dr. Richard Summers, who is the associated vice chancellor for research at the University of Mississippi Medical Center, told the task force that the small amount of clinical trials into CBD oil’s effects on childhood seizures have enjoyed some positive results. 

He said that the 10 young patients, all of whom had seizures that didn’t respond to traditional therapies, went three to four months without a single issue while using CBD oil produced at Ole Miss as a treatment.

Summers did offer that caveat that the sample size isn’t enough to draw a conclusion on CBD oil’s possible medical uses or safety and that the center plans to continue its research after being granted an extension by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

He said the goal was to develop a commercial CBD oil product for treatment of seizures.

Cultivation of hemp for commercial, research, or pilot programs

According to the National Conference of State Legislatures, 46 states allow the cultivation of hemp for commercial, research or pilot programs. In fact, Mississippi is the only Southern state where the cultivation of hemp is illegal after a handful of states legalized it earlier this year.

The task force will meet again on September 25 at 10 a.m. There were four committees created at the meeting:

The four committees will submit reports at the next task force meeting. 

Most of the 366 bills passed by the Mississippi legislature in this year’s session and signed by Gov. Phil Bryant become law on July 1.

Here’s everything of interest that is now law:

Good bills that became law

House Bill 1205 prohibits state agencies from requesting or releasing donor information on charitable groups organized under section 501 of federal tax law. The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Jerry Turner (R-Baldwyn).

HB 1352 is sponsored by state Rep. Jason White (R-West) and is known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act. The bill eliminates obstacles for the formerly incarcerated to find work, prevents driver’s license suspensions for controlled substance violations and unpaid legal fees and fines and updates drug court laws to allow for additional types of what are known as problem solving courts. 

SB 2781, known as Mississippi Fresh Start Act, was sponsored by state Sen. John Polk (R-Hattiesburg). This bill eliminated the practice of “good character” or “moral turpitude” clauses from occupational licensing regulations, which prohibit ex-felons from receiving an occupational license and starting a new post-incarceration career. 

The bill died for a time in the Senate on March 28, when the first conference report was rejected by the Senate. However, a motion to reconsider kept the bill alive and it was recommitted for further conference. The resulting second compromise was accepted by both chambers on the session’s final day and was signed into law by Gov. Phil Bryant.

SB 2901, known as the Landowner Protection Act, exempts property owners and their employees from civil liability if a third party injures someone else on their property. 

The bill was sponsored by state Sen. Josh Harkins (R-Flowood). The version signed by the governor on March 29 allows civil litigation against property owners due to negligence based on the condition of the property or activities on the property where an injury took place. This was a major point of contention during debate over the bill.

HB 1613, also known as the Children’s Promise Act, allows an $8 million income tax credit for donations to charitable organizations that help children in need. The credit would increase the cap on individual tax credits from $1 million to $3 million and create a $5 million business tax credit.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 596 made Mississippi the 15th state to call for a Convention of the States authorized under Article V of the U.S. Constitution. The resolution was approved by the Senate and passed the House on March 27.

For a Convention of the States to occur, 34 state legislatures would have to pass similar resolutions.

Ugly bills that became law

HB 1612 authorized municipalities to create special improvement assessment districts that will be authorized to levy up to 6 mills of property tax (the amount per $1,000 of assessed value of the property) to fund parks, sidewalks, streets, planting, lighting, fountains, security enhancements and even private security services. The tax will require the approval of 60 percent of property owners in the district.

The Senate amended the bill so it only applies to Jackson (cities with a population of 150,000 or more).

SB 2603 reauthorized motion picture and television production incentives for non-resident employees that expired in 2017. The bill, as originally written, capped incentives to out-of-state production companies at $10 million. This was reduced in conference to $5 million and it was signed by the governor on March 28.

HB 1283 is better known as the "Mississippi School Safety Act of 2019.” Controversially, it requires school districts to develop and conduct an active shooter drill within the first 60 days of the start of each semester. 

It also establishes a monitoring center connected with federal data systems with three regional analysts monitoring social media for threats. 

The bill also creates a pilot program for six school districts with a curriculum for children in kindergarten through fifth grade with “skills for managing stress and anxiety.” The pilot plan would be federally funded.

While House Education Committee Chairman Richard Bennett (R-Long Beach) killed a renewal of and a small expansion to the state’s Education Scholarship Account program this session, Tennessee and Florida have been moving forward to provide new options for children.

Florida has long been a champion of school choice, and is home to the nation’s largest program. The Florida Tax Credit Scholarship Program provides a tax credit on corporate income taxes and insurance premium taxes for donations to scholarship-funding organizations that provide scholarships to low and middle income students and children in foster care. A program that served approximately 15,000 students in 2003 now serves nearly 100,000. 

Florida is also home to two other school choice programs that serve another 40,000 students.

And this year, Florida enacted the Family Empowerment Scholarship program, which will provide new funding for 18,000 low-income students in failing schools to attend private schools. 

“The reason I fought so hard for the new Family Empowerment Scholarship is because of what I heard from the families on the waitlist,” said Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis. “I was told how badly they wanted to send their child to the school they felt was best for them. Signing this bill will help tens of thousands of low-income children realize their dreams.”

While Florida has long been a school choice leader, Tennessee had been similar to Mississippi with just a small ESA for students with special needs. That program served under 150 students this year. But a new law will expand ESAs to students in Shelby (Memphis) and Davidson (Nashville) counties. While it is limited, those two counties make up about 25 percent of the state’s entire population. 

This bill was a top priority of Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee. In fact, DeSantis and Lee, both Republicans, made school choice an issue on the campaign trail while their Democratic opponents were vocal in opposition. It provided a winning issue on the campaign trail, and in their first year in office, both were able to deliver on a campaign promise. 

And students in Florida and Tennessee will be better off. We should find a way to allow parents in Mississippi to have options so parents can send their children to the school they feel offers the best chance for their children to flourish. 

Mississippi Justice Institute Director Aaron Rice has been named a recipient of the 2019 Buckley Award, given annually by America’s Future Foundation. 

The Buckley Awards recognize “outstanding young professional conservatives for their above-and-beyond service to the conservative movement.” The award is in honor of William F. Buckley, who became a leader of the early conservative movement before the age of 30 by founding National Review in 1955 and hosting the public affairs television show, “Firing Line,” for 33 years. This is the only such award in the freedom movement that focuses on the achievements of liberty-minded young professionals. 

“There is perhaps no honor greater for a young conservative than to receive an award in the name of William F. Buckley,” said Jon Pritchett, President and CEO of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “He inspired a generation of conservative intellectuals to fight boldly for foundational beliefs. That is exactly what Aaron has done since he joined the movement, but it’s also what he has done all of his life.”

Aaron received the award for recognition of his work in helping to defeat the renewal of administrative forfeiture in the legislature this year. Administrative forfeiture previously allowed agents of the state to take property valued under $20,000 and forfeit it by merely obtaining a warrant and providing the individual with a notice. In order to get the property back, an individual was required to file a petition in court within 30 days and incur legal fees in order to contest the forfeiture and recover such assets.

But due in large part to Aaron’s thought leadership through state and national op-eds, television, and radio, the renewal died without receiving a vote in committee. 

“I am honored to be able to bring this award to the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, and its legal arm, the Mississippi Justice Institute,” said Rice. “Our work on administrative forfeiture was very much a team effort. I would not have been able to make any meaningful impact on my own. While I have the honor of receiving the Buckley Award, I consider it a team award to our entire organization, and the first we have been honored with. I could not be happier to be a part of that recognition for our great organization.”

“Aaron’s contributions to advancing the free society, to improving people’s lives and to working tirelessly against amazing odds in Mississippi has inspired all of us,” said Cindy Cerquitella, Executive Director of AFF. “Aaron’s work to secure the private property rights of Mississippi citizens, against the desire of so many in power is a true testament to his patriotism and commitment to the values of a free society.”

This is the first time the award has been presented to a state-based think tank that focuses exclusively on one state. Previous winners include Christina Sandefur of Goldwater Institute, Rob Bluey of Heritage Foundation, Mollie Hemingway of The Federalist, and Jim Geraghty of National Review.

See the full list here. 

Read Aaron’s full interview with America’s Future Foundation here– including more about his work in the conservative movement and some fun facts about his life. 

A coalition of conservative state and national organizations, led by Mississippi Center for Public Policy, recently sent a letter to Gov. Phil Bryant in support of the Fresh Start Act.

The Fresh Start Act, Senate Bill 2871, will make it easier for ex-offenders to receive occupational licenses and earn a living.

"Employment is a vital part of reintegrating ex-offenders into their families and communities. Work is the key to staying out of prison and off of welfare. Work is an essential part of the 'success sequence' that is the pathway to prosperity in America. Studies show work reduces recidivism," the letter writes.

Under the proposed legislation, licensing authorities would no longer be able to use vague terms like “moral turpitude” or “good character” to deny a license.

Rather, they must use a “clear and convincing standard of proof” in determining whether a criminal conviction is cause to be denied a license. This includes nature and seriousness of the crime, passage of time since the conviction, relationship of the crime to the responsibilities of the occupation, and evidence of rehabilitation on the part of the individual.

An individual may request a determination from the licensing authority on whether their criminal record will be disqualifying. If an individual is denied, the board must state the grounds and reasons for the denial. The individual would then have the right to a hearing to challenge the decision, with the burden of proof on the licensing authority.

"This bill provides a unique opportunity to bring a message of hope to the thousands of Mississippians released from prison each year. Their hope is that it’s not too latefor them. Their hope is that they, too, can share in the American dream. Thanks to the leadership of Lt. Governor Tate Reeves, Speaker Philip Gunn, Senator John Polk and Rep. Mark Baker, this legislation would create a 'Fresh Start' for these ex- offenders."

The letter was signed by Mississippi Center for Public Policy, Americans for Tax Reform, American Conservative Union, Americans for Prosperity- Mississippi, Right on Crime, Empower Mississippi, and Foundation for Government Accountability.

Read the full letter here.

Private citizens should not be subjected to government harassment for supporting causes they believe in, and charities should not have to worry about their funding drying up because donors fear reprisals.

Yet many policy pundits on the left, and even a few on the right, have been doing all they can to convince lawmakers across the country that the government has a compelling interest in knowing to whom you give your after-tax money. In using popular language such as “dark money” and “transparency,” the Left really means that it wants to know who funds its opposition, so it can bring pressure to bear and suppress its opponents’ speech with coercion and threats.

It’s no surprise that in blue states, including California, New York, Delaware, and New Mexico, the government is compelling 501(c) charities to disclose information about their donors. In recent years, some red states, too, including South Dakota, Utah, Alabama, and South Carolina, have also proposed legislation or regulation that would strip away donor privacy for charitable organizations, in the name of good government.

While transparency is what citizens require of their government, privacy is the constitutional right afforded to citizens. Conflating public requirements and private rights is clever but disingenuous. We should not allow proponents, from the Left or the Right, to get away with such sophistry.

In the Federalist Papers, a collection of 85 essays promoting the adoption of the United States Constitution, written by Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay in 1787–88, the three founders used the pseudonym “Publius.” They did so because to advocate for something as radical and controversial as that revolutionary document was dangerous. Not everyone in power in 18th-century America agreed with these ideas.

The same was true of the supporters of the NAACP in the 1950s, when it was advocating for equal rights for every American. During those tumultuous times, many people of public influence and power were demanding to know the names of members or supporters of the NAACP. In NAACP v. Alabama (1958), Justice John Harlan II outlined the practical effects of compelling organizations to disclose their donor lists: It exposed them to “economic reprisals, loss of employment, threat of physical coercion, and other manifestations of physical hostilities.”

Now imagine a person today who loses his job when his climate-zealot boss finds out that he gives money to a charity that opposes the Green New Deal. Or imagine the symphony director in a major city who is publicly shamed and harassed because he dared give to a charity that supports requiring people to use the public restroom that corresponds with their biological sex. Or how about an actual case in California, where the director of the Los Angeles Film Festival was forced to resign because he supported Proposition 8, the controversial rejection of same-sex marriage. California has been a proponent of forced disclosure of donor information for years, claiming that the information would be safe in the state’s hands. Yet Kamala Harris, the former California attorney general and now a U.S. senator and presidential hopeful, “inadvertently” allowed the names of donors to roughly 1,700 non-profits to be posted on a government website.

Nadine Strossen, a New York University law professor and former president of the American Civil Liberties Union, is a strong advocate of donor privacy. “Individuals should be able to join and support organizations without having their names and other private information disclosed,” she argues. “These rights remain essential today for the ongoing advocacy of civil-society groups across the ideological spectrum.

Mississippi, where I live and work, has now become the second state, joining Arizona, to protect the privacy of non-profit donors. Governor Phil Bryant signed House Bill 1205 into law at the close of the legislative session last month. The bill codifies a long-standing practice of barring the government from demanding or releasing publicly the personal information of donors to 501(c) non-profits. At a time when partisanship seems to reign, the publication of personal information can expose citizens to intimidation and harassment from those who want to shut down speech with which they disagree. Fortunately, two states — and may others follow — have taken steps to ensure the fundamental American right of donor privacy.

“In recent years, charitable donations have been weaponized by certain groups against individuals to punish donors whose political beliefs differ from their own,” Governor Bryant said at the signing of the bill. “I was pleased to sign HB 1205, which protects free-speech rights of Mississippians who make charitable donations.” Let’s hope more governors and state legislatures follow suit.

This column appeared in National Review on April 9, 2019. 

House Speaker Philip Gunn said Monday that the best accomplishments of the legislature this session included criminal justice reform, rural broadband, and human trafficking legislation.

He also doesn’t favor expanding Medicaid and also mentioned that the next legislature will have a tough task ahead when it redraws the state’s legislative districts after the 2020 U.S. Census.

Gunn made the remarks at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum about the session, which ended March 29.

Louisiana and Arkansas have expanded Medicaid for able-bodied adults under the Affordable Care Act, but Gunn said that such a decision should be left to the next legislature.

“I think under the current leadership, you’re not going to see any appetite for that,” Gunn said. “The big concern is the unknown. Once you give a benefit, you can’t take it back. The federal government can tomorrow, they withdraw their support and they can change the rules. More than that, I don’t think there is any appetite for that in the state.

“Until the taxpayers rise up and say we want this, there is not going to be an appetite for this.”

One example that wasn’t cited by Gunn was Louisiana. The Pelican State expanded Medicaid in 2016 under Gov. John Bel Edwards, a Democrat. Projections by Edwards’ administration said that 306,000 new people would enroll.

This year, those numbers have climbed to 505,503, an increase of 65.2 percent.

Gunn said he was pleased that the legislature was able to pass another criminal justice reform package. The new law passed this year has several important components, including allowing the expungement of non-violent felonies, expanding the definition of intervention courts, screening for mental health for offenders to keep them out of the criminal justice system, and ending the practice of suspending driver’s licenses for the non-payment of fines or non-appearance in court.

Gunn said that the broadband bill, which allows rural electric power associations, also known as co-ops, to offer this service to customers was designed to not favor either the EPAs or established service providers such as Comcast, CSpire, and AT&T.

He said one other debate was whether to allow the EPAs, which are non-profits with tax advantages, to be able to compete against established providers with no tax advantages in profitable service areas, such as suburbs. The law requires EPAs to only be able to provide broadband service within their certificated area.

He cited the pole attachment fee — which a broadband provider or telephone company pays to a utility to attach their lines to their power poles — as one way the law didn’t favor one side or the other. In the new law, EPAs are required to charge the same pole attachment fee for either their broadband affiliate or an outside operator.

Gunn said the human trafficking legislation was designed to run the practice out of the state and he said the next step is to help victims get back on the right path.

The new law, which was signed by Gov. Phil Bryant, increases the definition for prostitution to age 18 and adds training for EMTs, firefighters, and others. He said this change to the prostitution law is to ensure that those ensnared in a ring can seek help from law enforcement without worrying about prosecution.

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