Limited Government Archives - Page 24 of 34 - Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Among neighboring states, Mississippi is the only one that has not passed a resolution to call for a Convention of the States under Article V of the U.S. Constitution. That’s something organizers from the Convention of the States organization seek to change.

Senate Concurrent Resolution 596, if passed, would make Mississippi the 14th state legislature to pass a resolution asking for an Article V Convention of the States.

Article V gives state legislatures the power to call a convention to propose amendments to the Constitution. It takes 34 states to call the convention and 38 to ratify any proposed amendment.

Lt. Col. Allen West (ret.) paid a visit to the state capitol as part of the conservative grassroots group Convention of States Action last week to encourage legislators to approve the resolution.

“The brilliance and prescience of our founding fathers, they knew if they didn’t have those righteous men and women serving in the federal government that the balance would get out of skew,” West said. “They made sure that those powers that aren’t enumerated to the federal government are retained by the states and by the people. That’s why they put Article V in there.”

The amendments brought in this convention would place fiscal restraints on Congress and mandate term limits for both representatives and senators. Any amendments passed in such a convention would require at least approval of two thirds of the nation’s state legislatures to become law.

The nation has more than $22 trillion in debt and another $122 trillion in unfunded liabilities for Medicaid and other entitlements. Mark Meckler, president of Convention of States Action, says that a constitutional amendment that forces fiscal responsibility on the federal government is needed to address this issue.

“Nobody’s even talking about debt and deficits and that is eventually going to crush our country,” said Mark Meckler. “We can impose a balanced budget amendment on the federal government and force them to live like your state and other states that live within their means.

He also said that the federal government needs to utilize generally-accepted accounting practices.

“I call it the unicorn and rainbow system. It is fantasy and you’d go to jail if you accounted that way,” Meckler said. “We could put in tax caps, spending caps, all kinds of things you can do to rein them in.”

Meckler said that criticism of a possible runaway convention was unfounded since only those specific amendments that would limit the power of the federal government would be addressed.

The states that have approved similar Article V resolutions include: Georgia, Florida, Alaska, Alabama, Tennessee, Indiana, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Texas, Missouri, North Dakota, Arizona and Arkansas.

Mississippi lawmakers have tried to pass a similar resolution in previous years.

A similar resolution passed the House 76-42 last year and it died in the Senate without making it out of committee.

Three resolutions that would have called for an Article V convention died in the 2017 session and three more perished in the 2016 session as well.

Thursday was the second big deadline in the Mississippi legislature for general bills to make it out of the originating chamber.

The next deadline is Monday, the last day that bills that are held on a motion to reconsider can be passed out of the originating chamber.

Here are the some of the bills that survived and others that died:

Still alive

House Bill 1352 is sponsored by state Rep. Jason White (R-West) and is known as the Criminal Justice Reform Act. The bill would clear 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. It passed the House by a 110-5 margin and is now in the hands of the Senate.

HB 1284, known as the Fresh Start Act, is sponsored by state Rep. Mark Baker (R-Brandon) and would eliminate the practice of “good character” or “moral turpitude” clauses from occupational licensing regulations, which prohibit ex-offenders from receiving an occupational license and starting a new post-incarceration career. The bill passed the House by a margin of 114-2.

A companion bill, SB 2781, is sponsored by state Sen. John Polk (R-Hattiesburg) and passed the Senate 41-10. Any differences between the bills will be likely resolved in conference later in the session.

HB 1268 would clarify state law regarding constitutional challenges to local ordinances. With local circuit courts acting as both the appellate body for appeals on specific decisions (such as bid disputes) and the court of original jurisdiction, there’s been confusion among judges regarding the law that governs challenges of local decisions, which are required within 10 days.

City and county attorneys have used this 10-day requirement on decisions to get new constitutional challenges — which are new lawsuits and not appeals — thrown out of circuit courts. This law would add language that would prevent application of the 10-day requirement to constitutional challenges.

The bill was sponsored by state Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Southaven) and passed the House by a 116-2 margin.

HB 98 would prohibit the use of fishing nets for the taking of fish or speckled trout within a half mile of the shoreline of Cat Island in the Mississippi Sound. It passed the House by a 112-3 margin.

Under this bill, any licensed teacher employed at one of these districts would be exempt from continuing education requirements as a condition of their license renewal. The bill passed the House 85-28.

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

The bill is sponsored by state Sen. Josh Harkins (R-Flowood) and was passed on a largely party line vote 32-17.

HB 702 would allow cottage food operators to increase their maximum sales to $35,000 and advertise their products on the web. The bill, sponsored by state Rep. Casey Eure (R-Saucier), passed the House by a 117-0 margin.

SB 2603 and HB 1128 would reauthorize motion picture and television production incentives for out-of-state firms that expired in 2017. Unlike the previous incentives, both bills would cap them at $10 million.

The House version is sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Smith (R-Columbus). It passed the House by a 95-19 margin. The Senate version is sponsored by state Sen. Joey Fillingane (R-Sumrall) and passed by a 43-6 margin.

HB 1204 and SB 2759 would allow a municipality or county to execute the winning bid in a sealed bidding process if a judge hasn’t ruled on a protection request for bids within 90 days. The House version is sponsored by state Rep. Jerry Turner (R-Baldwyn) and the Senate version is sponsored by state Sen. John Polk (R-Hattiesburg). The Senate version passed by a 49-0 vote, while the House version passed 116-1.

SB 2675 would reauthorize the Education Scholarship Account program until 2024 and was sponsored by state Sen. Gray Tollison (R-Oxford). The bill was amended to have the ESA funds transferred to the home district if a participating student returns to his or her local school district.

The bill was passed by the Senate on a party line vote.

More dead than disco

HB 337 was the House version of the Landowner Protection act and was sponsored by state Rep. White. It died on the calendar.

SB 2496 was a bill to exclude certain mapping practices from the definition of surveying that could be regulated by the Mississippi Board of Licensure for Professional Engineers and Surveyors. It was sponsored by state Sen. Angela Burks Hill (R-Picayune) and died on the calendar.

HB 1514 was the companion bill in the House and was sponsored by state Rep. Shane Aguirre (R-Tupelo) and it was recommitted to committee, thus killing the bill.

Senate Bill 2791 would’ve mandate evidence-based solutions to reduce incarceration and eliminate obstacles for ex-cons to find work. The Reentry and Employability Act was sponsored by state Sen. Juan Barnett (D-Heidelberg) and died on the calendar.

Tuesday was the first big deadline in the Mississippi Legislature for bills to make it out of committee and plenty of bills died without making it to the floor.

The next deadline is February 14, the last day that general (non-revenue) bills can be passed by the originating chamber.

Here are the some of the bills that survived and others that died:

Still alive

Senate Bill 2791 and House Bill 1352 are two criminal justice reform measures that have made it out of committee. SB 2791 would mandate evidence-based solutions to reduce incarceration and eliminate obstacles for ex-offenders to find work. The Reentry and Employability Act is sponsored by state Sen. Juan Barnett (D-Heidelberg).

State Rep. Jason White (R-West) sponsored the Criminal Justice Reform Act, which would clear obstacles for the formerly incarcerated to find work.

HB 337 and SB 2901 are bills that would exempt property owners and their employees from civil liability if a third party injures someone else on their property. The House version was sponsored by state Rep. White, while the Senate version was sponsored by state Sen. Josh Harkins (R-Flowood).

HB 623 would exempt school districts with A and B accountability ratings from the Mississippi Department of Education from certain mandates, including grade reporting and annual auditing of the district’s official discipline plan and code of student conduct. Under this bill, any licensed teacher employed at one of these districts would be exempt from continuing education requirements as a condition of their license renewal.

HB 1128 would reauthorize motion picture and television production incentives for out-of-state firms that expired in 2017. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Jeff Smith (R-Columbus).

HB 1268 would clarify some confusion in the law regarding time limitations for constitutional litigation brought by those whose rights have been threatened by government action. This would protect and advance constitutional rights in Mississippi. It was introduced by Rep. Dana Criswell (R-Olive Branch).

SB 2675 would reauthorize the Education Scholarship Account program until 2024 and was sponsored by state Sen. Gray Tollison (R-Oxford).

Dead

HB 19 would’ve required bond counsel to be selected through competitive requests for proposal process and was sponsored by state Rep. David Baria (D-Bay St. Louis).

HB 31 would’ve eliminated the requirement for a supervising physician for nurse practitioners with 3,600 or more hours in clinical practice and was sponsored by state Rep. Jay Hughes (D-Oxford).

HB 85 would’ve required a warrant for law enforcement agencies to use cell site simulator devices except to prevent loss of life or injury. It was authored by state Rep. Steve Hopkins (R-Southaven).

HB 173 would limit the salaries of the State Superintendent of Public Education, the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Executive Director of the Mississippi Community College Board to a pay scale of 150 percent of the governor’s salary, and was sponsored by state Rep. Bill Shirley (R-Quitman).

HB 118 and SB 2912 would’ve allowed homeschooled students to participate in extracurricular activities. At present, Mississippi law prevents homeschooled students from participating in extracurricular activities, such as athletics, in their respective school districts. A similar bill in the Senate by state Sen. Michael Watson (R-Pascagoula) also died without a floor vote.

HB 1113, SB 2825 and SB 2826 were all bills that would’ve changed the state’s Education Scholarship Account program. HB 1113 was sponsored by state Rep. Becky Currie (R-Brookhaven) and would’ve revised the eligible expenses under the program, eliminated the lottery for selecting eligible students for the program from the wait list and established an appeals process.

SB 2825 would’ve added ESA funding to the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, the funding formula for K-12 education and was sponsored by state Sen. Chris Caughman (R-Mendenhall).

SB 2826 was sponsored by state Sen. Videt Carmichael (R-Meridian) and would’ve also eliminated the lottery method for selecting eligible students for the ESA program from the wait list, required the Mississippi Department of Education to enact an accountability program and established an appeals process.

HB 1491 and SB 2248 would’ve allowed out-of-state, licensed healthcare providers such as doctors, nurses, optometrists and dentists to practice for a non-profit in Mississippi on a charitable basis. The Senate bill was sponsored by state Sen. Angela Burks Hill (R-Picayune), while the House version was sponsored by state Rep. Shane Aguirre (R-Tupelo).

SB 2693 would’ve pre-empted local regulation of short-term vacation rentals, such as Airbnb, and was sponsored by state Sen. Hill.

HB 625 and SB 2767 would’ve allowed the farming of agricultural hemp in the state. The U.S. Congress passed a farm bill in December that authorized states to start growing the plant, which can be made into thousands of products such as clothing, paper, shampoos and even insulation.

The House version was sponsored by state Rep. Joel Bomgar (R-Madison) and the Senate version was sponsored by state Sen. Willie Simmons (D-Cleveland).

SB 2183 and HB 708 would’ve allowed direct sales and shipments of wine to state residents. The Senate version was authored by state Sen. Bob Dearing (D-Natchez), while the House version was sponsored by state Rep. Charles Busby (R-Pascagoula).

On the last day for bills to make it out of committee, the House Judiciary A Committee passed several measures on to the full House.

One that didn’t make it was House Bill 1104, which would’ve reenacted administrative forfeiture for property worth less than $20,000. Barring another meeting of the committee, the bill will die without being considered by the full House.

The biggest controversy came on House Bill 337, the Landowner Protection Act. This bill would exempt property owners and their employees from civil liability if a third party injures someone else on their property.

Committee Chairman and state Rep. Mark Baker (R-Brandon) cited the 10 murders in 19 days in Jackson as one of the reasons for the bill.

“There are a lot of groups with interest in this,” Baker said. “This bill is not about dealing with slip and falls at the grocery store. At some point, you can’t keep foisting that problem (crime) on owners of property.

“At some point, if the Jackson Police Department can’t do anything about, why are we going to put this on someone else?”

State Rep. Edward Blackmon Jr. (D-Canton), who is affiliated with the Mississippi Trial Lawyers Association, railed against the bill.

“This is a Jackson, Mississippi bill that will affect the entire state and reverses years of established law in our courts,” Blackmon said.

The committee later approved the bill over Blackmon’s strenuous objections and it will now be taken by the full House.

A companion bill in the Senate, Senate Bill 2901, has already been approved by the Business and Financial Institutions Committee.

Among the other bills that made it out of the House Judiciary A Committee:

HB 777 would change existing law on notaries public. Also known as the Revised Mississippi Law on Notarial Acts.
HB 819, also known as the Uniform Athlete Agents Act, would require several disclosures be made between an agent and a potential client that is a student-athlete. It would also require agents to report of all expenses incurred in the recruiting of student-athletes.
HB 1149 would require all courts in the state to utilize the Mississippi Electronic Courts System, which puts court documents online.
HB 1268 would revise the standard of constitutionality on an appeal from judgment by a county or municipal authority.
HB 1285, also known as the GAP (Guard and Protect vulnerable children and adults) Act, would revise state law on guardianships and conservatorships.

The next deadline will be February 14 for original floor action on bills from their own chamber.

A new report shows a sharp decline in the state government workforce over the past 15 years.

According to the Office of the State Auditor, the number of state government employees has decreased by more than 5,200 dating back to 2004. The bulk of the reduction, about 4,500 employees, is from the past nine years.

“While there have been reductions-in-force (RIFs) actions at some state agencies—The Office of the State Auditor underwent two such RIFs in the last decade—most of the reductions have been through attrition and voluntary separations, which include resignations and retirement,” the report notes. “In fact, in FY 2018, 65% of those who left state government left through resignations, and 13% of those who left state government retired.

“Aside from reduction by attrition, the State has likely also been able to reduce the workforce through increased use of technology and automated services. For instance, automating certain processes using kiosks or online services may eliminate unnecessary positions.”

As a result, the ratio of citizens to state employees has improved from 94:1 in 2010 to 108:1 today. The puts Mississippi ahead of Arkansas (50:1) and Louisiana (66:1), but behind Alabama (158:1) and Tennessee (167:1) in terms of efficiency.

Mississippi Center for Public Policy is excited to announce that Ilya Shapiro will lend his voice and expertise as a Senior Fellow and as the Chairman of the newly formed Advisory Board of the Mississippi Justice Institute.

Shapiro, who clerked for U.S. Fifth Circuit Judge E. Grady Jolly in Jackson, is the Director of the Robert A. Levy Center for Constitutional Studies at the Cato Institute and is regarded as one of the preeminent Constitutional scholars in the country.

“It has long been an American tradition to engage the citizenry in public discussion of the important matters of the day,” said Jon Pritchett, President and CEO of Mississippi Center for Public Policy. “It is a vital component of a functioning republic. Today, we often refer to this as ‘thought leadership’ and I can think of no more thoughtful leader in today’s debates about our liberty than Ilya Shapiro. I’m absolutely delighted and honored that he has joined with us and the other members of the MCPP Contributing Fellows.”

“As Washington is evermore polarized and paralyzed, new ideas will have to come from the states,” Shapiro said. “MCPP and MJI have been developing policy solutions and legal arguments that benefit Mississippians’ daily lives. I look forward to helping with that great and necessary work.”

Shapiro is the co-author of Religious Liberties for Corporations? Hobby Lobby, the Affordable Care Act, and the Constitution (2014), and editor of 11 volumes of the Cato Supreme Court Review (2008-18). He has contributed to a variety of academic, popular, and professional publications, including the Wall Street Journal, Harvard Journal of Law & Public Policy, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, USA Today, National Review, and New York Times Online, and he regularly provides commentary for various media outlets. Shapiro has also filed more than 300 “friend of the court” briefs in the U.S. Supreme Court.

You can read his full bio here.

As Chair of the MJI Advisory Board, Shapiro will work with MJI Director Aaron Rice to provide input and expertise on the selection and legal strategy for cases in which MJI defends constitutional rights.

“We are thrilled to have Ilya join as the Chairman of the Advisory Board of the Mississippi Justice Institute,” Rice said. “Ilya is nationally respected for his thoughtful and reasoned analysis of constitutional issues, and we are excited to bring his expertise to bear to defend the constitutional rights of Mississippians.”

Along with Shapiro, MCPP has assembled an outstanding and diverse cadre of Contributing Fellows. MCPP Contributing Fellows are a group of academic and private sector individuals who are dedicated to the ideas of personal, economic and religious liberty, limited government, and market-based policy solutions and contribute to these ideas through their research, teaching, speaking and writing.

The inaugural group of Contributing Fellows at MCPP includes:

Matt Allen, Counsel at Brunini Law Firm, and PhD student in Criminal Justice at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Anja Baker, Community Relations Coordinator at the Center for Pregnancy Choices.

J. Brandon Bolen, Assistant Professor of Economics at Mississippi College.

Brandon Cline, the John “Nutie” and Edie Dowdle Associate Professor of Finance at Mississippi State University and Co-Director of the Institute for Market Studies.

Sterling Kidd, Shareholder at Baker Donelson.

Ed Tiryakian, Associate Professor of Corporate Finance and Business Economics at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina.

Claudia Williamson, Associate Professor of Economics and the Drew Allen Endowed Fellow at Mississippi State University and the Co-Director of the Institute for Market Studies.

###

MCPP is an independent, non-profit organization that works to advance the ideals of limited government, free markets, and strong families by influencing public policy, informing the media, and equipping the public with information and perspective to help them understand and defend their liberty.

MJI is the legal arm of MCPP, representing Mississippians whose state or federal Constitutional rights have been threatened by government actions.

One of the biggest bills facing the Mississippi legislature — rural broadband — is already headed to the floor for a vote.

The so-called Mississippi Broadband Enabling Act would allow the state’s 26 non-profit electric power associations, also known as cooperatives, to provide broadband to their primarily rural customer base.

The House Public Utilities Committee voted Monday afternoon to send the bill to the House floor.

The bill, authored by House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton), would require 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.

Another similar bill is in the Senate. Senate Bill 2078 is sponsored by state Sen. Chuck Younger (R-Columbus) and differs in that would simply authorize EPAs to provide broadband service to their electric customers without requirements for pole attachment fees, feasibility studies or an annual compliance audit.

This bill is in the hands of the Senate Energy Committee.

House Bill 7– Sponsored by state Rep. John Hines Sr. (D-Greenville) would prohibit appointed or elected public officers from taking part in partisan political activity.

HB 19– This bill, sponsored by state Rep. David Baria (D-Bay St. Louis), would require bond counsel to be selected through competitive requests for proposal process. When a local government entity wants to issue bonds to fund a project, they need counsel to oversee bond proceedings and write key financing documents. The bill has been double-referred to two committees, which means it’ll likely die a quiet death before it can make to the House floor for a vote.

HB 31– This bill would eliminate the requirement for a supervising physician for nurse practitioners with 3,600 or more hours in clinical practice. The bill is sponsored by state Rep. Jay Hughes (D-Oxford) and is in the hands of the Public Health and Human Services Committee.

HB 60– Sponsored by state Rep. Earl Banks (D-Jackson), this bill would authorize $2 million in bond funds for the Jackson Zoo for capital improvements. With the help of city of the Jackson, the zoo had to repay the state for bond money from 2015 and 2016 when its administration spent most of the money on daily operations in violation of the memorandums of understanding it had with the state’s Department of Finance and Administration.

HB 67– State Rep. Ashley Henley (R-Southaven) sponsored this bill that would eliminate the state sales tax on food and increase the diversion of sales tax revenue to municipalities from 18.5 to 20 percent. It’s in the hands of the Ways and Means Committee.

HB 71– This bill would extend the repealer on tax incentives provided by taxpayers to filmmakers and is sponsored by state Rep. William Tracy Arnold (R-Booneville). If the bill is not signed into law, the state’s questionable film incentives will expire on July 1.

Under present law, filmmakers can receive a 25 percent cash rebate on their local spend in the state and a 30 percent cash rebate on payroll paid to resident cast and crew whose wages are subject to state income tax. There’s also a 5 percent additional payroll rebate for wages paid to any member of the cast or crew who is an honorably discharged veteran of the U.S. Armed Forces.

The bill has been referred to two committees: Tourism and Ways and Means.

HB 85– Cell site simulator devices such as the Stingray would require a warrant if this bill authored by state Rep. Steve Hopkins (R-Southaven) is signed into law. The bill would provide an exception for the warrant requirement if it’s necessary for law enforcement officials to use the cell site simulator device to prevent loss of life or injury.

The devices are used by law enforcement to spoof cell phone towers and track any device within range into connecting with the stingray. This allows law enforcement personnel to not only locate and track the person in possession of a specific phone, but also gather their communications content as well.

A similar billl ast year also authored by Hopkins died in committee. This year’s bill has been referred to the House Judiciary B Committee.

HB 118– At present, Mississippi law prevents home-schooled students from participating in extracurricular activities, such as athletics, in their respective school districts. This bill, sponsored by state Rep. Arnold, would allow those students to participate in extracurricular activities and will be considered by the Education Committee.

HB 173– This bill, sponsored by state Rep. Bill Shirley (R-Quitman), would limit the salaries of the State Superintendent of Public Education, the Commissioner of Higher Education and the Executive Director of the Mississippi Community College Board to a pay scale of 150 percent of the governor’s salary. State Superintendent Carey Wright is the nation’s highest paid state leader of K-12 education, making $307,000 per year. Mississippi IHL Commissioner Glenn Boyce earns slightly less than $360,000 annually. Gov. Phil Bryant is paid an annual salary of $122,160 per year.

SB 2020– Sponsored by state Sen. Videt Carmichael (R-Meridian), this bill would expand the Public Service Commission from three elected members to four elected (by U.S. House districts) and one appointed by the governor with the advice and consent of the Senate. Under the bill, the now-separate Public Utilities Staff would become part of the PSC again. A similar bill died last session. The bill is now in the hands of the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee.

The next deadline is Monday, which is the final day for the introduction of general bills. The deadline for committee action is February 5.

Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves outlined his plans for the 2019 legislative session, mixed in with a pitch to be the state’s next governor, at the Stennis Capitol Press Forum Monday.

Reeves touted the state’s progress in K-12 education, historically low unemployment rate and increasing tax revenues while vowing that he will never, as governor, support the expansion of Medicaid, which he called Obamacare.

He also supported increasing pay for both teachers and state workers in this year’s session and promised that despite increasing revenues, most state agencies will receive the same level of funding as last year’s budget.

“For the next three months, my focus will be to finish the job I was elected to do, leading the state Senate and passing good, conservative policy,” Reeves said. “I’m proud of my record over the past seven years, because I’ve done what I promised voters I would do. Cutting taxes and finding efficiencies in state government.

“I’m not afraid to say no to my friends and I have no plans to change just because this is an election year.”

As for the state’s improving financial condition, he cited the most recent tax revenue report from the Department of Revenue. The report shows that collections for the fiscal year so far are $90.4 million or 3.52 percent over the sine die estimates. The biggest increases are in the use tax (7 percent tax that is now assessed on internet sales) which was 20.17 percent and nearly 14.98 percent increase in corporate income tax revenue.

The state’s unemployment rate was 4.7 percent in December, which still lags behind the national rate of 3.7 percent.

The two-term lieutenant governor and former state treasurer also decried the decision by the governing board of the Public Employees' Retirement System of Mississippi from 15.75 percent of payroll to 17.4 percent.

“The request by Public Employees' Retirement System will be funded in its entirety,” Reeves said. “Even though I am disappointed that the board broke years of precedence and made a significant request for an increase before they received the annual actuary report this year.”

Reeves said the extra taxpayer money for employer contributions to PERS could add up to between $75 million to $80 million. Taxpayers could also be paying more at the municipal and county level, as local government contributions could add up to $25 million or more.

As for the issue of a decreasing population in Mississippi, Reeves blamed the lack of a large urban area with the kind of amenities desired by millennials and the large number of out-of-state students attending the state’s two largest universities. The University of Mississippi had 41.7 percent of its enrollment from out of state, while 35 percent at Mississippi State University hail from outside the state.

Reeves did get in a shot at one of the gubernatorial candidates on the Democrat side, Attorney General Jim Hood.

“The political enemy of 2019 are the liberal ideas of (U.S. House Speaker) Nancy Pelosi, (Senate Minority Leader) Chuck Schumer and (state Attorney General) Jim Hood,” Reeves said, linking Hood rhetorically with two national Democrats with little popularity in the state.

According to a recent scorecard, the GOP-dominated Mississippi legislature isn’t as conservative as members would like their constituents to believe.

The American Conservative Union Foundation released its annual ratings of the Mississippi legislature Thursday. Most Magnolia State lawmakers scored poorly on their votes on several bills selected by the ACU for their importance to the cause of limited government and economic freedom.

The average score for the legislature was 50.35 percent, up slightly from last year’s score of 50.31 percent.

Only six out of 122 House members won awards with ratings of 80 percent on their votes on the bills. The average Republican rating in the House was only 61 percent, with Democrats at 46 percent.

The Senate was even worse, as the average score was 46 percent with no senators winning awards. Democrats in the upper house averaged only one point less on average than their Republican comrades.

“In the 2018 session, lawmakers of the Mississippi legislature voted to continue hiking harsh requirements for people seeking to enter the workforce,” ACU Chairman Matt Schlapp said in a news release. “They also voted to fund crony government agencies that exclusively benefit select industries, including The Egg Marketing Board, whose mission is to persuade taxpayers to consume more eggs. We urge Mississippi lawmakers to reverse course and listen to the handful of conservatives in the legislature who are fighting for policy solutions that will create job opportunities and protect taxpayers from government waste.”

The bills that the ACU used to tabulate their ratings included ones that provided funding for the state’s Cosmetology Board, Mississippi Public Television, Mississippi Arts Commission and the Egg Marketing Board.

There were also bills that concerned alcohol policy (such as transportation of unopened alcoholic beverages through dry counties and ‘to-go cups’), occupational licensing, burdensome insurance mandates and limiting local government overreach on agricultural policies and the Second Amendment.

State representatives Joel Bomgar (R-Madison), Dana Criswell (R-Olive Branch) and Steve Hopkins (R-Southaven) were the only lawmakers to win the Award for Conservative Excellence, which went to lawmakers who scored 90 to 100 percent.

Three other state representatives — Chris Brown (R-Amory), Ashley Henley (R-Southaven) and Robert Foster (R-Hernando) — earned the Award for Conservative Achievement by scoring at least 80 percent.

In the House, the lowest scoring Republican member was state Rep. Donnie Bell (R-Fulton) with a score of 42 percent, while the highest-scoring Democrat in that chamber was state Rep. Kevin Horan (D-Grenada) with a 65 percent.

The lowest scoring Republican in the Senate was state Sen. Dean Kirby (R-Pearl) with a rating of 20 percent. The highest scoring Democrat in the upper chamber was state Sen. Juan Barnett (D-Heidelberg) with a 57 percent score.

The ACU is a non-profit organization that advocates for conservative policies such as economic and religious liberty, limits on the scope and size of government, pro-life policies and personal freedom at both the state and national levels.

Update: ACUF issued the following statement on a minor change to the scorecard:

In the originally published version, changes made by the Senate to HB 1083 were overlooked, and the ACUF description and position statement reflected the original version of the bill as passed by the House. Therefore, we have removed the bill from the Senate portion of our scorecard and retained the bill in the House. As a result, some members may find that their scores have slightly changed.

ACUF continues to fulfill our unique mission to reflect the voting records of every one of the nation’s over 8,000 elected officials, and we strive to provide our members and the general public with accurate scorecards to evaluate their elected officials. We sincerely apologize for our error and any confusion it may have caused.