close

A government by the people and for the people can only stay that way if it is accountable to the people. Every year, millions of taxpayer dollars, and thousands of Mississippi’s children are put through government schools in the state. While the state has fairly stringent accountability standards for many government entities, education transparency has not received the attention that it should.  

The concept of transparency is not at all foreign to state governments. In fact, Mississippi has several provisions designed to promote transparency within state government by requiring financial disclosures posted online, open meetings, and other measures for various state entities. But how far have such efforts gone within the government school system?

Even though many other government entities have relatively stringent accountability protocols, the education system has not seen the fullest degree of accountability possible. While the state education system often makes its general academic directives public, there is often a degree of ambiguity even about what is specifically being taught on a day-to-day basis.

Many states have recently enacted academic transparency laws to remedy such ambiguity and have more transparency on what children are being taught. Rather than leaving citizens, taxpayers, and parents to wonder about what is being taught, such laws require the education system to post actual curriculum online for public inspection. Such measures are all the timelier in our day for two primary reasons, both from the standpoint of technological advancements that enable such accountability, and a growth in the polarization between parents and school administrators.

In the first place, the widespread of the internet, smartphones, and social media have all made the dissemination of information easier, cheaper, and more effective than ever before. In former days, an academic transparency measure might have required more expensive and time-consuming methods, such as mailing the public curriculum to individual addresses. Such technical challenges have been practically removed. Using the internet, even the most basic and inexpensive technology of today has the ability to publish school records publicly for millions of citizens to see.

Finally, issues such as Critical Race Theory, “Gender Theory,” and other issues have become increasingly divisive issues as parents across the country are coming to grips with an increasingly radicalized academic establishment. In order for citizens to be informed on what the government schools are actually teaching, posting curriculum online is a basic first step.

Transparency and accountability to the people are among the most fundamental ingredients of a good government. If the state of Mississippi has requirements for other government entities to post their information on the internet, government school administrators should be required to do the same with school curriculum.

Ultimately, a policy of accountability and open information for school curriculum is a policy grounded in the fundamentals of our nation’s founding ideals. Fundamentally, by giving the citizens a working knowledge of their government, the power is placed in the hands of the people -where it belongs. For in the words of Thomas Jefferson: “knowledge is power, knowledge is safety, and knowledge is happiness.” It’s time for the Mississippi Legislature to ensure that its people have the means and ability to have such knowledge and be completely informed about government school curriculum.  

We are now over a week into this year’s legislative session. Hundreds of bills have already been dropped in the House and Senate on a vast range of topics.

Let’s jump right into the update on The Good, The Bad, and The Interesting…

The Good:

The Bad:

The Interesting:

As bills move through the legislative process, you can stay updated on them, learn about what they do, and find out how your legislators are voting through our Legislative Tracker.


If you have questions about upcoming legislative issues, please feel free to send me a question.

All the Best,

Hunter Estes, Senior Director of Policy & Communications

The Mississippi Legislature is taking the fight to Critical Race Theory with legislation aiming to ensure that public institutions of learning shall direct or compel students to affirm that all are equal.

Senator Michael McLendon (R-D. 1) has drafted a bill based on the Mississippi Center for Public Policy’s recent policy paper, Combatting Critical Race Theory in Mississippi. The act shall provide that no publicly-funded educational institution will be able to compel students to think that any sex, race, ethnicity, religion, or any other factor that an individual can or may not be able to change about themselves makes them any less of a person, inferior, nor superior. The legislation is simply about affirming that all are equal.

No one should have an issue with such a bill. Yet, around the country, there are constant talking-points from those on the Left either saying that there is no need for such a bill because Critical Race Theory is not being taught and is a “right-wing conspiracy” or those on the Left saying, “Yes, it is being taught and should be, therefore there is no need for a bill to combat it!” The fact of the matter is that – as our paper pointed out – Critical Race Theory is being taught in Mississippi in some form or fashion, and it is up to us to combat this Marxist-like agenda.

The best way to combat Critical Race Theory is with a good idea replacing the bad one it is. As the bill reiterates, we are all equal. The famous line from the Declaration of Independence goes: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” Did America always live by this principle? No, but this amazing country has come so far and made so much progress. Whether it be the Constitution and Bill of Rights, the Emancipation Proclamation, innovation, Women’s Suffrage, or the Civil Rights Movement, we have shown the world that America is the greatest opportunity for human flourishing. Mississippi is no different.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy approves of this legislation and will continue to update you as the 2022 Mississippi Legislative Session continues, and you can keep up with measures by watching our Legislative Tracker.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Today, the United States Supreme Court met for a special session to hear oral arguments concerning the Biden Administration’s vaccine mandate for private employers, which has been challenged in court by multiple states and private employers, including Gulf Coast Restaurant Group, which is represented by the Mississippi Justice Institute (MJI).

The hearing concerned emergency motions seeking a stay of the vaccine mandate while litigation continues. The mandate is scheduled to take effect on January 10, 2022. 

The mandate requires companies with over 100 employees to force their employees to be vaccinated, or be subject to weekly testing (at the employee’s expense) and constant mask-wearing – on pain of losing their job. Companies can face fines of up to $14,000 per violation for failing to enforce the mandate.

The mandate was initially halted by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which issued a stay against enforcement of the mandate while litigation challenging its legality continued.  However, all lawsuits challenging the mandate were later consolidated before the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals, where a three-judge panel issued an opinion revoking the temporary stay. The states and private employers challenging the mandate then sought emergency relief from the U.S. Supreme Court, asking the Court to issue a new stay before the mandate goes into effect on January 10.

"We are very grateful that the U.S. Supreme court has taken the extraordinary step of scheduling a special session to hear these arguments,” said MJI Director Aaron Rice. “We are confident that the U.S. Supreme Court will agree with us that the mandate is unconstitutional and unlawful and will halt the mandate before it can inflict untold damage on private employers and on our economy."

For media inquiries, please reach out to Stone Clanton, [email protected].

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Jackson, MS): The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has re-launched its Legislative Tracker.

The updated website will summarize legislation being moved through the process and make the information assessible to both the average and scholarly viewer, grade each bill on whether it increases or decreases liberty, and amplify transparency amongst legislative output.

The MCPP Legislative Tracker will:


"All Mississippians deserve to know whether their legislators are effectively representing the interests of their communities," said Senior Director of Policy & Communications Hunter Estes. "Our Legislative Tracker helps to accomplish exactly that. We summarize legislation, offer our thoughts on the impact bills could have on your rights and liberties, and publish this information to the public. We believe that transparency is the best way to ensure our representatives carry out the promises they made to the people. We hope you’ll find this tool valuable as you work to stay up to date on what’s happening under the dome of our capitol building."

You may access the Legislative Tracker HERE.

For media inquiries, please reach out to Stone Clanton, [email protected].

We recently announced the MCPP Freedom Agenda, which will become a yearly strategy to lay out our goals for each Legislative Session. The 2022 Freedom Agenda covers five policy areas we deem necessary for reform: Critical Race Theory, economic liberty, education, healthcare, and technology and innovation.

For Critical Race Theory, we are supporting legislation that will combat this divisive ideology by ensuring no public funds supports its teaching, as well as legislation that will provide academic transparency. As parents, families, guardians, and taxpayers, we deserve to know what is being taught to our children and what educational materials our funds are being used for.

For economic liberty, we are, of course, supporting the abolition of Mississippi's income tax, which will help boost our economy by allowing workers to keep more of what they've earned and making the state more business-friendly. We also hope to see the cutting of more regulatory "red tape" – Mississippi is burdened by far too many boards, commissions, and states agencies that are constantly pushing new regulations onto the people. Big businesses can navigate this minefield of market obstacles, but small businesses and entrepreneurs are often stifled.

For education, we support legislation that would allow open enrollment to all public schools (giving the ultimate school choice) and establish more charter school authorizers to streamline and encourage the expansion of education freedom. We also hope to see the capping of "fat cat" salaries, as we need the funds to go into the classrooms to better our students, not into administrative pockets. We are also pushing legislation that will even more so protect free speech on campuses, ensuring that peaceful assembly, protests, lectures, petitions, and literature distribution will be allowed.

For healthcare, we are supporting the full repeal of the socialist-like Certificate-of-Need laws that plague the industry in the state. These laws basically mean that no new health care provider can come along and offer services without the express permission of competitors. This makes as much sense as allowing a Pizza Hut to block the building of a Papa John’s because of the potential for competition. We aim to get rid of this incredibly outdated policy.; In companion with this, with more folks seeking to get medical care from the comfort of their own homes, we support legislation that would make it easier to offer medical access directly. Our home health moratorium currently makes this almost impossible.

For technology and innovation, we support legislation that would reduce the regulatory obstacles in front of agricultural innovation to encourage growth in an area that our state relies so much on. The same goes for the obstacles in front of telemedicine/telepharmacy.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy believes providing these reforms would lift up our state, safeguard liberty, and promote limited government. Ultimately, we also believe they would make Mississippi more prosperous and a happier place to live, work, and raise a family.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

(Jackson, MS): The Mississippi Center for Public Policy has released its plan for success in 2022 – The MCPP Freedom Agenda, which will become a yearly strategy to lay out our goals for each Legislative Session. The Freedom Agenda will cover five areas needed for policy reform: Critical Race Theory, economic liberty, education, healthcare, and technology & innovation.

"Freedom is a process," said Senior Director of Policy & Communications Hunter Estes. "The defense of our liberties necessitates constant work. Recognizing this, we are launching a strategic campaign to advance freedom in Mississippi from the classroom to the hospital, the office to the home, and the college campus to the tech start-up. Our goal is to better Mississippi, and we believe these tangible legislative reforms can help to accomplish that mission."

The 2022 Freedom Agenda sets out a twelve-point plan:

  1. Combat Critical Race Theory
  2. Promote Academic Transparency
  3. State Income Tax Abolition
  4. Red Tape Reduction
  5. Open Enrollment in Education
  6. Cap School Board Administrative Costs
  7. Establish Multiple Charter School Authorizers
  8. Free Speech on Campus
  9. Repeal Certificate of Need
  10. Repeal of Moratorium on Home Health Agencies
  11. Agricultural Incubator
  12. Reduce Barriers to Telemedicine/Telepharmacy


“Mississippi needs a boost. That’s why we are publishing our Freedom Agenda to help elevate our state. Each of these twelve reforms are affordable and achievable – and our lawmakers could easily make them happen,” said President & CEO Douglas Carswell. “The Freedom Agenda includes measures to give families tax breaks and grow our economy, so that young citizens of the Magnolia State won’t have to move away to work. We also propose school freedom to ensure that every child growing up in here gets the chance of a great education, as well as detailed reforms to make healthcare more affordable.”

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy believes providing these twelve reforms would lift up our state, safeguard liberty, and promote limited government. Ultimately, we also believe they would make Mississippi more prosperous and a happier place to live, work, and raise a family.

You may read the full 2022 Freedom Agenda HERE.

For media inquiries, please reach out to Stone Clanton, [email protected].

Recently, the Cato Institute released their yearly index for personal liberty and economic freedom in the fifty states. Sadly, Mississippi ranked at an underwhelming #40.

“Mississippi is a typical Deep South state in that its economic freedom far outstrips its personal freedom. But the state’s worst dimension is actually fiscal policy,” wrote Cato. The think tank continued, saying Mississippi’s overall tax burden is a bit above average at 10%. Debt is much lower than average, too, but government employment and GDP share are far higher than average – State and local employment is 16.2% of private-sector employment.

Personal liberty in the Magnolia state is described as sub-par, with it imprisoning its population at a rate of 1.5 standard deviations above average and allowing hardly any school freedom. On the economic freedom side, Mississippi’s monopolization of alcohol sales, the lack of statewide cable franchising, strict regulation of health insurance, and certificate of need (CON) laws don’t make things any better.

With it being the end of the year, folks normally begin to create their new year’s resolutions to better themselves, whether that be by learning a new skill or hobby, exercising more, or spending less and saving more. Mississippi should look at its horrendous ranking and aim to better itself in 2022.

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is looking forward to the new year as we take on many of the challenges laid out in the Cato report, including expanding school freedom through open enrollment and creating multiple charter school authorizing boards, repealing the awful CON laws that plague our healthcare industry, and abolishing the income tax. We believe that doing these things will, of course, make Mississippi freer. It will also, though, ultimately make Mississippi more prosperous and a happier place to live, work, and raise a family.

We talk more about this in our 2022 Freedom Agenda, which you may read HERE.

Agriculture is a growing industry. In a day when the nation has now has the ability to produce more agricultural products than prior generations, it has become apparent that agriculture is an industry where innovative business models and technologies have extraordinary potential. Despite this success, there has been a growth in regulations that inhibit this innovation.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the nation’s agricultural per-capita production has increased by almost 300 percent since 1948. While there was relatively little change in the inputs, the growth compounded. What is the cause of this? Studies by the USDA found that much of this growth was driven by the adoption of innovative business models and new technologies.

While innovations in technology and business carry a directly positive effect for agricultural growth, there is an opposite effect when regulations increase.  Ultimately, there are two main jurisdictions for agricultural regulation, the state government and the federal government.

A Purdue University analysis of the agricultural regulations imposed on the federal level from 1997 to 2012 by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the USDA found that the regulations had a substantial impact on innovative growth in productivity.  Because of USDA regulations, the study found a 24.7 percent decrease in productivity growth, for EPA regulations, the study found a 36.8 percent decrease in productivity growth.

Despite such dismal effects of regulation on growth, federal agricultural regulation has only increased since the Purdue study’s 2012 end year. A 2018 study conducted by the George Washington University Regulatory Studies Center, and again, the USDA itself, had similar findings. Stating that “growth in total regulatory restrictions has a negative relationship with growth in crop yield.” This federal environment has led to calls from groups such as the American Farm Bureau Federation for a decrease in these excessive regulations, citing a fundamental issue with the extent and enforcement of federal agricultural regulations.

While state-level regulations have varied across the nation, these state-level regulations can inhibit agricultural innovation and growth as well. The extent and enforcement of agricultural regulation is different in every state, but examples of regulatory burdens on agriculture abound. This is true both for innovative agricultural technology and innovative agricultural business models.

On the innovative technology side, California law requires all self-driving tractors to have an operator stationed in the vehicle, practically defeating the purpose of “driverless” tractors. In Mississippi, drone operators seeking to spray pesticide or fertilizer would have to get an airplane pilot’s license. This is due to an outdated requirement that all aerial applicators have a pilot’s license. Both of these rules are based on outdated laws from the 1970s, and these regulations are only two such examples of burdens that states have placed on agricultural technology.

In addition to regulations on ag-tech, many states also have regulatory burdens on innovative agri-business models as well. For several years, multiple states did not permit farmers to sell shares of their dairy herds to outside participants. In addition, several states have prohibited certain farm-to-consumer food sales from being marketed on social media, forcing many farmers to be excluded from a basic tool that other sectors are permitted to use widely.

Even a brief survey of the agricultural landscape demonstrates a need for meaningful regulatory reforms. Farmers across the state and country have recently battled economic downturns, natural disasters, a global pandemic, and numerous other challenges. The least that the government can do is remove regulations that inhibit their productivity and innovation.  While there is a myriad of agricultural regulations that should be fundamentally repealed on the state and federal level, there are also proactive reforms that could help maintain an environment that encourages growth.

With the backing of farmers and groups such as the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), many states have enacted sweeping agricultural freedom laws that have expanded access to agricultural products by consumers. Given that a large percentage of the agricultural sector centers around food production, several states looking to cut regulations have enacted “Food Freedom” laws. Many of these laws encompass reforms such as expanding farm-to-table meat sales, broadening cottage food sales, and lowering small farmers' licensing and permit requirements.

In addition to specific changes to the most commonly burdensome regulations, there is also immense potential in a regulatory exemption program. In such a program, individual farmers could request specific exemptions from excessive agricultural regulations that do not affect health or safety. In some cases, a broad regulatory repeal like the food freedom laws may not apply to a farmer in a unique regulatory situation. 

Using such exemption programs, individual states, and even the federal government, could have platforms for farmers to continue operating and growing in the economy without being hamstrung by a one-size-fits-all approach. This “regulatory sandbox” model has a successful track record of success in other sectors, such as financial technology, and it could be a platform for farmers in unique scenarios to get the regulatory relief they need.

The outdated rules of yesterday, and arbitrary regulations of today, shouldn’t be permitted to restrict the growth of agricultural innovation and prosperity for the future. A proactive agricultural sector can only grow to its fullest potential in a free market context.

Farmers have enough challenges to face as they strive to produce products for their families, neighbors, and country. Instead of placing more burdens on these hardworking folks, sound public policy should ensure that farmers can continue to grow and innovate without having the blight of a heavy-handed government.

magnifiercross linkedin facebook pinterest youtube rss twitter instagram facebook-blank rss-blank linkedin-blank pinterest youtube twitter instagram