Snapshots Archives - Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Court: IRS must answer conservative group

Lawsuit alleges IRS abused organizations that opposed Obama Administration

A federal judge has ordered the IRS to submit to discovery and depositions in a lawsuit filed by True the Vote (TTV) which alleges discriminatory practices and abuse against organizations which were politically opposed to the Obama Administration.

The Treasury Inspector General found in a May 2013 report that the IRS selected groups for special mistreatment if they who had "Tea Party," "Patriot," or "9/12" in its name or if they advocated conservative policy positions.TTV sued the IRS, but the suit was dismissed in 2014. An appeals court reversed that dismissal, saying the IRS had not taken sufficient steps to prevent similar actions in the future. The suit was remanded to District Court for a decision on the merits of the case.

Last week, the District Court granted TTV's motion for discovery, permitting TTV to discover the "past acts of alleged discrimination stemming from the alleged illegal targeting scheme" to ensure that the IRS has "eradicated the effects" of that scheme.

Source: True the Vote

24 states: half or more babies on Medicaid

Mississippi tied for fourth place with 64 percent in new study

In Mississippi, 64 percent of babies are born on Medicaid. That ties the state for the fourth highest rate in the country according to a Kaiser Family Foundation report. Nationwide, 24 states report more than half of all babies born had their births paid for Medicaid. Mississippi is one of eight states in which Medicaid pays for more than 60 percent of all births.

Source: CNSnews.com

Arizona's big school choice victory

All students now eligible for enrollment in education savings accounts

Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed into law an expansion of his state's education savings account (ESA) program, creating a near-universal option for students and parents.

Arizona's previous ESA program could only be accessed by children with special needs, students in failing schools, children of active duty military or in foster care, and other limited criteria. Now, at the end of a four year phase in, any child will be eligible to enroll in the program, although there is a limit of 5,500 participants.

Instead of sending funding directly to district schools, and then assigning children to those schools based on where their parents live, Arizona's ESA program provides parents 90 percent of what the state would have spent on their child in their district school, with funds being deposited directly into a parent-controlled account. In Arizona that is typically around $5,300 for a student, annually, and closer to $14,000 annually for a child with special needs.

The family can then use those funds for any education-related service, product, or provider. Parents can roll over unused funds from year to year in anticipation of future education-related expenses.

[Editor's note: Mississippi also has an ESA program. It is available only to students with special needs. Based on the amount of funding the legislature has provided, it is capped at fewer than 500 students.]

Source: The Daily Signal

Population shifts

Birthrate and migration shifts the American landscape

In more than 1,200 American counties, people are dying faster than babies are being born to replace them. The U.S. population is growing older, and younger Americans are having fewer babies.

Washington Post blogger Christopher Ingraham took Census Bureau data and color coded the maps below. These maps reduce the coloration to a simple binary scale: red for losing population, blue for gaining it.

Americans are also moving, continuing a long-standing trend of migration out of colder climates and to places like the Sun Belt. But even in Southern states, the migration picture is mixed. An arc of red running from Mississippi up through the Carolinas shows net losses to migration in the counties of the Black Belt.

Combine the two maps above and you get the total net population gain or loss in American counties in 2016.

Population gainers include the Western half of the country, the entire Florida peninsula, the I-95 corridor from D.C. to New York, and the New England coast. Places like the Black Belt, the Rust Belt, the extreme upper Midwest and much of the central plains lost population. Overall the population shifts of 2016 marked a return to trends that had been common before the Great Recession: a movement of people out of cities and rural areas and into the country's suburbs, particularly in warmer regions.

Source: Washington Post Wonkblog

Funding Students, Not Districts

Heartland discusses benefits & outcomes of decentralized school funding

What are the benefits and outcomes of allowing school funding to follow the child instead of being based on the school district? Listen to the answer on this Heartland Institute Podcast, where two experts discuss student-based funding, which allows parents a choice and provides students with additional educational opportunities.

Source: Heartland Institute

Can grammar be racist?

University rejects "unjust language structure" & "grammatical correctness"

The Director of the Writing Center at the University of Washington at Tacoma said staff and tutors will "emphasize the importance of rhetorical situations over grammatical 'correctness'" because grammar is "racist." Taxpayer-supported writing consultants want to "help students become more critical of these unjust language structures as they affect students' writing and the judgment of that writing" and "discuss racism and social issues openly in productive ways."

But Barry Brownstein writes grammar is not an arcane structure but is fundamental to learning to reason and think. He says education comes in three stages: grammar and memorization; analysis and logic; rhetoric and evaluation. When educators skip the first two steps they end up asking six-year-olds how they feel about what they're learning before they get to learn it.

"This education shortcut...carries over into adulthood where adults 'are ready to give their opinions long before they've had a chance to understand the topic...Diagramming isn't an arcane assignment designed to torture the student. It forces students to clarify their thinking, fix their sentences, and put grammar to use in the service of writing - which is, after all, what grammar is for.' Grammar improves our writing and clarifies our thinking. Writing and reasoning are pillars of student success. Why is the University of Washington administration placing political correctness before student success?" asks Brownstein.

Source: Intellectual Takeout: Can Grammar Be Racist?

Mississippi charter schools ranked

Two national education reform groups rank Mississippi charter school system 10 & 38

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools ranked Mississippi's charter school law as #10 in the country. Meanwhile, the Center for Education Reform ranked Mississippi #38. Why the difference?

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools favors tight safeguards on launching and governing new schools, while the Center for Education Reform supports fewer restrictions and less burdens to opening a new school. Mississippi's charter school law and authorizing board have taken a very conservative approach in vetting charter school applications. Currently only three are in operation and nine more have indicated their intent to apply for permission to open schools in 2018.

The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools notes, "Mississippi also made major improvements to its law, now allowing students in school districts rated C, D, or F to cross district lines to attend a charter school and permitting charter school employees to participate in the state retirement system and other benefits programs." The report continues, "Mississippi's law contains a cap with room for ample growth, includes a single statewide authorizing entity, provides a fair amount of autonomy and accountability, and includes strong operational and categorical funding. Potential areas of improvement in Mississippi's law include providing applicants in all districts with direct access to the state authorizer, providing equitable access to capital funding and facilities, and strengthening accountability for full-time virtual charter public schools.

Source: The National Alliance for Public Charter Schools and The Center for Education Reform

Federal Trade Commission calls for occupational licensing reform

FTC: Reforms good for competition, workers, consumers & the American economy

"Nearly thirty percent of American jobs require a license today, up from less than five percent in the 1950s. The expansion of occupational licensing threatens economic liberty," notes the Federal Trade Commission in a call for occupational licensing reform.

"Unnecessary licensing restrictions erect significant barriers and impose costs that cause real harm to American workers, employers, consumers, and our economy as a whole, with no measurable benefits to consumers or society. Based on recent studies, the burdens of excessive occupational licensing - especially for entry- and mid-level jobs - may fall disproportionately on our nation's most economically disadvantaged citizens. Even in professions in which licensing makes sense, harm often arises from the complexity and duplication of state-by-state licensing requirements and fees, combined with a lack of reciprocity among states."

"Unnecessary licensing requirements hit military families particularly hard; these families move often, which means military spouses often must find jobs in new states that have new and different licensing requirements. The FTC's Economic Liberty Task Force looks forward to working with our state partners and other interested stakeholders as we bring greater attention to these important issues. Occupational licensing reform is good for competition, workers, consumers, and the American economy."

Source: Federal Trade Commission

The Permission Society

Founders proclaimed Americans free; then why do we need licenses and permits for everything?

Societies have two different models for operating: the "nuisance system" and the "permit system." The nuisance system says you are free to live and use your property as you wish as long as you don't harm (that is, aren't a nuisance to) another person. The permit system says you are not free to do something unless the government gives you permission.

In his recent book on "The Permission Society," Timothy Sandefur of the Goldwater Institute says the Founders embraced the presumption that we are all basically free.

He told the Cato Institute, "That's reflected in the text of the Constitution, which speaks of securing the blessings of liberty, which says that our rights shall not be abridged. And of course the Ninth Amendment, which makes clear that the list of rights is not exclusive. Just because the Constitution doesn't say you have the right to run barefoot through sprinklers on a hot summer day doesn't mean that you don't have that right. It says government is not giving you freedom, it is simply listing a few of your freedoms in the Bill of Rights."

"So how have we come to the point where today you need to get the government's permission for a wide variety of the things that you spend your daily life doing? You need a permit to build a house, own a gun, get a job, to buy some things, run businesses, pay your employees - even freedom of speech now often comes with some sort of permit requirement...Unfortunately I believe we are sliding more and more into a society that presumes you unfree, unless you get the government's permission. And as we move toward the Permission Society, we're moving away from the principles of freedom upon which our Constitution is based."

You can watch Sandefur discuss more here on C-SPAN.

Source:Cato Institute

Mississippi licensure reform could become national model

Legislation passed this session puts occupational licensing boards under supervision of elected officials

To address the overuse of licensure and the "permission society," the Mississippi legislature this year became the first state in the nation to make major licensing and regulatory reforms following the U.S. Supreme Court decision North Carolina State Board of Dental Examiners v. FTC.

HB1425 puts new regulatory actions under supervision of elected officials.

The new law will give the governor, secretary of state, and state attorney general joint responsibility for "actively supervising state executive branch occupational licensing boards to ensure compliance with state policy." A majority of the three executive branch officials - or their appointees - would have to approve all new regulations passed by the state's licensing boards before those rules could take effect.

Reason.com, in an extensive article about the legislation, says, "No other state has yet considered reforms as far-reaching as Mississippi's" but "efforts are underway in Arizona, Missouri, Nebraska, and Wisconsin to review existing state licensing laws, with special scrutiny for laws that serve no public health or safety function."

The Reason article explains, "In place of one-size-fits-all licensing rules that can be corrupted and abused by incumbent professionals to block competition, Mississippi's legislation offers a variety of alternative measures that protect the public from fraudulent or untrained practitioners without imposing high costs on qualified individuals. Market competition, third-party or consumer-created ratings systems like those available through apps such as Yelp, and private certifications are offered as potential solutions. If none of those work for a certain profession, the state can move along to mandatory inspections, impose bonding and insurance requirements, and even authorize the state attorney general to target frauds. Only after all that has been tried, and failed, should a new licensing law be created."

Jameson Taylor, Vice President for Policy at the Mississippi Center for Public Policy, a free market think tank, says giving veto power to the new 3-member commission creates a clear line of accountability. He says it might not be a perfect mechanism, but it gives the public an opportunity to weigh in if something is out of line. "Right now, it's a process that's entirely controlled by insiders," he says. "This would fix that."

Russell Latino, state director of Americans for Prosperity-Mississippi, called it a "groundbreaking reform" and a "first-of-its-kind legislation that could become a national model for how occupational boards operate.'"

Source: Reason.com

Myths about welfare produce bad policy

5 myths and 5 facts about welfare and child poverty

The Heritage Foundation reports five myths about welfare and child poverty that often lead to misguided policies.

Myth: The welfare state in the U.S. is small.
Fact: The U.S. welfare system is enormous. The federal government operates over 90 means-tested welfare programs that provide cash, food, housing, medical care, and targeted services to poor and lower-income Americans. In 2014, federal and state governments spent over $1 trillion on these programs; 90 percent of this spending, or $924 billion, went to cash, food, housing, and medical benefits.

Myth: Welfare benefits are meager and insufficient.
Fact: The combined benefits available for a single mother with two school-age children working full time at the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour) would increase her earnings to the equivalent of an annual income of $47,385 per year or an effective hourly wage of $22.78 per hour.

Myth: Due to a lack of government support, poverty and deprivation are widespread.
Fact: The government's poverty measure says very little about the actual material living conditions of the poor. Examining other government data provides a very different picture of poverty in the United States. For example, the average poor household in the United States has air conditioning, a car or truck, cable or satellite TV, a computer, a cell phone, and (if the household has children) a video game system. They have enough to eat and are not undernourished. They live in comfortable housing that is in good repair and have more living space than the average non-poor person in Germany, France, Sweden, and the United Kingdom. The average poor household in the United States also reports that they have access to medical care when they need it.

Myth: Welfare policy substantially penalizes work, trapping families in poverty.
Fact: Welfare benefits will continue at roughly the same level for a parent who takes a low-wage job. (While Temporary Assistance for Needy Families and food stamp benefits do decrease as earnings rise, Earned Income Tax Credit and Additional Child Tax Credit benefits rise; the two effects largely offset each other.) It is inaccurate to claim that high welfare benefit rates (or marginal tax rates) cause low-wage parents not to work or to work little. The more likely problem is that generous benefits may reduce the financial necessity of work or of full-time work.

Myth: Raising the minimum wage is an effective strategy for reducing child poverty.
Fact: A parent who sought to support a family with a minimum-wage job alone would indeed be poor, but under the current welfare system, no parent is expected to support a family solely on minimum-wage earnings. The system generously allows parents to combine earnings and welfare. Raising the minimum wage would actually push many families deeper into poverty by destroying the jobs they need to climb above the poverty level. When the government arbitrarily raises the wages of low-skill workers, businesses will hire fewer of those workers. The job-loss effects from an increase in the minimum wage will focus on the most vulnerable within the low-skill group.

Read the full report here or download it in PDF format.

Source: The Heritage Foundation

Governor approves asset forfeiture reform

New law requires warrant to keep seized property; creates transparency

Under a new law signed by Governor Phil Bryant on Monday, law enforcement agencies will be required to report "descriptions and values of seized property, which police department seized it, and any court petitions challenging the seizures. The law will also require police to obtain a seizure warrant within 72 hours." If a warrant is not obtained in certain cases, the property will be given back to its owner. That from a report from Reason.com which published a critical expose on Mississippi's asset forfeiture abuses in January.

Lee McGrath of the Institute for Justice(IJ) praised the passage of the bill. IJ had graded Mississippi an "F" on forfeiture transparency earlier this year but now says, "Mississippi is now the third state this year and the 19th state since 2014 to have passed civil forfeiture reform."

Sources: Reason.com & Institute for Justice

Don't touch that horse without a license

Tennessee licensing board threatens equine massage therapist with fine or jail if she tends to horses

In Tennessee, you don't need a license to castrate or artificially inseminate a horse. But the Tennessee Board of Veterinary Medical Examiners has threatened a woman with fines and jail if she massages a horse. The woman, Laurie Wheeler, has been twice certified for equine massage by an animal therapy school in Indiana. She has also been licensed by Tennessee for human massage therapy.

But the licensing board informed her that she must be a licensed veterinarian to perform horse massages, which would require her to go to veterinary school, where equine massage is not even taught. Eric Boehm writes about this licensing gone wild incident at Reason.com's Hit & Run Blog.

Equine Sports Massage Therapy is a growing occupation across the country with certified therapists operating in Mississippi.

This Tennessee incident is reminiscent of the attempt by a dental licensing board in North Carolina to restrict teeth whitening services. The board was sued under anti-trust laws and the U.S. Supreme Court determined because the board was not operating under state supervision, it was vulnerable to the lawsuit. A current bill (HB1425) to correct similar weaknesses in Mississippi licensing boards is currently pending in the legislature.

Source: Reason.com

Mississippi needs 80,000 more construction workers

MBJ article reports Southern states compete for trained construction professionals

"In the next two years, Mississippi alone is going to be short 80,000 craft professionals such as electricians, masons, carpenters and welders," said Mike Barkett, president of the Mississippi Construction Education Foundation (MCEF) in a recent Mississippi Business Journal article.

Barkett said during the Great Recession, many construction workers retired or found new careers. Now there is a shortage with Southern states competing for trained workers. MCEF's goals to increase the number of Mississippi construction workers include "promoting career and technical opportunities among young people, recruiting top talent that contributes to the fundamental growth and development of prospective employers, and then providing comprehensive classroom and on-job training that creates success for workers at all levels."

Source: Mississippi Business Journal

Policy Reports on Internet Taxes, Welfare & Licensing Reforms

In case you missed it, MCPP releases policy papers on three major issues facing your Mississippi legislature

Did you know Amazon is not paying taxes to Mississippi? That's right, YOU are paying taxes when you order online; but Amazon is collecting those taxes for the state. But we don't know if Amazon gets to keep a share.

Did you know when other states did an audit on their welfare programs, they found dead people, millionaires and residents from other states collecting benefits intended for the poor? But some in Mississippi don't want us to audit our welfare rolls.

Did you know Mississippi licenses 55 out of 102 mid-to-low-level professions? We license court clerks (only 3 other states do that); residential drywall installers (8 other states); and landscape workers (9 other states). Somehow, nearly every other state manages to get by without licensing these trades.

You can get these and more details in three new policy papers released by the Mississippi Center for Public Policy:

Mississippi's Internet Sales Tax: Answers to Common Questions

Mississippi Welfare Fraud Policy Brief

HB 1425: Necessary Regulatory Reform that Will Protect Consumers and Lower Prices

Source: Mississippi Center for Public Policy

Mississippi Center for Public Policy, 520 George Street, Jackson, MS 39202

Mississippi's top employer is government

Legislative briefing by State Economist provides overview of Mississippi jobs, economy

Nearly 250,000 Mississippians work in government - the largest employment sector in the state. The next largest sectors are manufacturing, retail, hospitality, and health care employing between 125,000 and 150,000 each.

Those facts and more come from the latest legislative briefing by the Mississippi State Economist.

Other details:

The State Economist expects no significant change in Mississippi's economy in the short-term.
Mississippi's real gross domestic product in 2015 was below the 2008 level.
Mississippi's annual average unemployment rate for 2016 was 5.7%. The "real" unemployment rate was 10.9%. The "real" unemployment rate adds discouraged and other marginally attached workers and those working part time for economic reasons.
Mississippi has - at 56.0% - the second lowest workforce participation rate nationwide (only West Virginia is lower). The report cites Census data to note that 10% of the working age population in Mississippi is disabled and not in the work force. The national rate is 6%.
Mississippi has the lowest median household income in the country at $39,665. (Median household income is the level of income at which 50% of the households are above and 50% of the households are below this level.) The median household income in the United States is $53,889. Adjusted for the cost of living, Mississippi's median household income is $45,750 - still the lowest.
Only West Virginia and New Mexico are more dependent on the government than Mississippi. 40.6% of income in Mississippi comes from the government (26.3 percent from transfer payments; 14.4% from earnings).

Source: Mississippi University Research Center

Five charts explain Mississippi's "budget crisis"

Spending, debt, entitlements all increasing

You have heard a lot about Mississippi "budget cuts" but it might surprise you to know spending has increased every year for the past five years.

A recent article by Steve Wilson provides five charts showing:

Mississippi general funding spending has increased every fiscal year for the last five years.
Revenue projections have been much more optimistic than actual revenue collections.
Medicaid outlays from Mississippi's general fund have increased 362 percent from 2012 to 2017.
Education spending has increased every year since 2013.
The legislature has added $1.3 billion in bond debt since 2006, an increase of 41.8 percent.

Source: Mississippi Watchdog

Religious liberty is good for the economy

Cato Journal article cites four historic lessons showing economic prosperity follows religious liberty

Religious liberty is good for the economy, so says a new Cato Journal article by professors Anthony Gill and John M. Owen IV. The authors share four lessons from history that lead to greater economic prosperity across cultures which embrace religious tolerance.

Religious Freedom Promotes Diversity, Security, and Prosperity
Religious Freedom Attracts Entrepreneurs Who Foster Economic Growth
Religious Freedom Fosters a Commercial Society
Religious Freedom Tends to Spread to Neighbors

The authors write, "The idea that individuals holding different beliefs should be tolerated in society, and the incentive of these individuals to promote institutions that allow them to organize and worship freely, contribute greatly to an environment that promotes a wide variety of civil liberties that concurrently facilitate a number of secular relationships, which in turn promote greater interaction (trade) among people. In short, religious liberty is a catalyst for the freedoms that constitute democratic civil society and promote prosperity over the long haul."

Source: Cato Institute

Regulation through litigation

New report suggests state attorneys general make policy through litigation that benefit their political donors

"A little understood revolution in American law is taking place- regulation by litigation, which places national lawmaking into the hands of powerful coalitions of state attorneys general (AGs) who have no lawmaking power," reports the Competitive Enterprise Institute about a new paper "Pirates at the Parchment Gates - How State Attorneys General Violate Our Constitution and Shower Billions on Trial Lawyers."

The paper notes the contingency fee partnership between private law firms and state AGs raises three constitutional concerns:

1. Contingency fee financing of lawsuits constitutes a constitutionally prohibited attempt to do an end-run around the appropriations process.
2. Both federal and state constitutions require all receipts of money or services be legislatively authorized and subject to legislative accountability.
3. No private party - including law firms - should ever be given any role in a government investigation or prosecution when they have a direct, personal financial stake in the outcome.

Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute

After Valentine's Day: Should She Break Up With Gov?

Federal government portrayed as overbearing boyfriend in award-winning series


	Watch the Trailer for Love Gov

In this five-part series of videos lasting 4-to-6-minutes each, Scott 'Gov' Govinsky foists his 'good intentions' on a hapless, idealistic college student, Alexis. Produced by The Independent Institute, this web series, "follows Alexis's relationship with Gov as his intrusions wreak (comic) havoc on her life, professionally, financially, and socially. Alexis's loyal friend Libby tries to help her see Gov for what he really is - a menace."

Episodes include An Education in Debt; Protection from Jobs; A Remedy for Healthcare Choices; House Poor; and Keeping a Close Eye on Privacy.

Source: Independent Institute

Regulations need an expiration date

Sunset of state rules worked in NC, can work in Mississippi, too

Regulatory reform is cutting red tape in North Carolina and it can work in Mississippi, too. So says Joe Sanders of the John Locke Foundation in a recent Clarion Ledger column.

A recent measure in the Mississippi legislature (HB1265), which would repeal state agency rules that aren't reviewed and reissued every five years, was approved by a House committee but died last week on the House floor without being brought up. Sanders says this should be on the agenda for the future. Only three years after North Carolina passes a similar law, "About one-eighth (12 percent) of the rules reviewed so far are being removed. Over one-fourth of rules have to undergo further scrutiny through the rule adoption process, meaning more could be repealed."

A recent measure (HB1265) to create "sunset provisions with periodic review to all state rules" died in the House last week. In the future, this reform "would be a good thing for the Mississippi's economy, her businesses big and small, and her people."

Award for repealing "archaic" tax

Reeves, Gunn recognized by Tax Foundation

By passing a phase-out of Mississippi's franchise tax, Mississippi Lieutenant Governor Tate Reeves and Speaker of the House Philip Gunn this month received the 2016 Outstanding Achievement in State Tax Reform by the Tax Foundation.

From the release: "Each year, the Tax Foundation honors state legislators, governors, and other individuals with our Outstanding Achievement in State Tax Reform award...the honoree's accomplishments must (1) be outstanding, (2) be an achievement (not merely a proposal) during 2016, and (3) reform taxes to make them simpler, more neutral, more transparent, more stable, and more pro-growth." Reeves and Gunn "led the effort to begin phasing out the state's archaic franchise tax, a tax on investment and capital formation in a state that needs more of both. Beginning in 2018, the tax rate will drop in phases until complete repeal in 2028. The legislation also reduces the tax rate on low levels of income. Reeves and Gunn have also explored further tax reform options."

Source: Tax Foundation

ICYMI - On The Radio

MCPP's Forest Thigpen and MJI's Mike Hurst share updates on Supertalk

Mississippi Center for Public Policy President Forest Thigpen and the Mississippi Justice Institute Director Mike Hurst

went on air to talk with Supertalk Mississippi hosts about the legislative session and issues important to you.

Forest Thigpen gave a legislative update and discussed the need to reform Mississippi's high school graduation history standards. Listen to his segment on the JT Show here (begins at 7:45 mark).

Mike Hurst talks to Paul Gallo about President Donald Trump's executive orders and religious freedom in Mississippi. Listen here (begins at 38:35 mark).

Hurst also joined the JT Show to discuss Neil Gorsuch's Supreme Court nomination. Listen here (begins at 6:27 mark).

Source: Supertalk Mississippi

Give Ed Dept science standards feedback

Thumbs up or down the standards & provide comments

The

Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) is seeking feedback on revisions to the College and Career-Ready Standards for Science. MDE has created a feedback forum.

The forum is open through February 24, 2017.

You can select the grade level and review various performance objectives. You'll have the opportunity to agree (thumbs up) or disagree (thumbs down). If you disagree you'll be able to provide feedback. If you believe the Standard should be rewritten you'll be given the opportunity to suggest a change.

Source: Mississippi Department of Education

President Trump orders regulatory relief

For every new regulation; two must be removed

"Small business owners rank unreasonable government regulations as their second most important problem. Regulations have been in their top three concerns for 96 consecutive months." That's according to NFIB President Juanita Duggan in a statement welcoming President Donald Trump's executive order requiring federal agencies to identify at least two existing regulations to be repealed for every one proposed.

Duggan continued, "The implementing rules to be issued by the Office of Management and Budget should emphasize that the extraordinary costs and complexity of regulations falls hardest on America's small and independent businesses. Regulatory agencies and OMB should keep that in mind as they execute the President's order."

Read more details from the National Federation of Business here and read the "Presidential Executive Order on Reducing Regulation and Controlling Regulatory Costs" here.

Source: NFIB

Education System Holds the Poor Down

MCPP's School Choice Week Liberty Luncheon Features National Expert

Kevin Chavous, former Washington DC city councilman and national advocate for school choice, told those at the MCPP Liberty Luncheon last week that we should be outraged over the state of the American education system.

"At one time educationally we were the envy of the world. No one did it better...We were at one time the most socially mobile people on the planet. That means if you were born in poverty in America fifty years ago, more than any other place on earth, you had a better opportunity to move up the rungs from poverty to lower class to middle class to upper class based on your own wiles and educational advancement. That's where we were. Where we are today is exactly the opposite. Every 42 seconds a child drops out of school in America...48 percent of America's public schools are either failing or under-performing...We have gone from the most socially mobile people on the planet to the least socially mobile people on the planet. If you are born in poverty in America you have less of a chance to get into the middle class than some kid riding a rickshaw in Hong Kong or gliding along the Amazon in South America. That should lead to a sense of outrage that is holistically American in nature."

Watch his full speech here:

Liberty Luncheon with Kevin Chavous

Source: MCPP

Vo-Tech students more job-ready

A different kind of school choice

Massachusetts has more than 4,000 vo-tech applicants on waitlists to get into career-vocational technical education programs. The Pioneer Institute notes, "Vocational technical education, once looked down upon as 'less than' traditional high school, is coming into its own, and families across the commonwealth are appreciating the relevance and rigor inherent in completing a full academic schedule every other week, alternating with the in-depth study of a trade or career of their choice...According to a statewide survey of business owners, and others by the Dukakis Center at Northeastern University, vocational school graduates are more job-ready than general education or college preparatory high school graduates."

Source: Pioneer Institute

Crippling regulations

In small business, the owner becomes the number one regulatory expert

"Federal regulation has crippled the ability of small business to create jobs and contribute to economic growth" according to Gloria Taylor writing for Heritage Action. She says a new survey released by The National Association of Small Business shows, "nearly one-third of businesses spend over 80 hours drowning in compliance with an average cost of $12,000. For most small businesses the owner becomes the "number one regulatory expert" dealing with compliance paperwork and interpreting the rules rather than growing their company. Business owners admit they have held off on hiring and investment, and entrepreneurs hesitate to start a business given regulatory startup costs averaging over $83,000 in just the first year alone."

You can read the full survey here.

Source: Heritage Action for America

History is Mystery

Mississippi's U.S. History graduation tests start with 1870s

"If you were designing a U.S. History test, where would you start? The Revolutionary War? The Pilgrims? Maybe the Magna Carta as a precursor to the Declaration of Independence?" MCPP President Forest Thigpen asks this in a recent column. He explains, "For Mississippi high school students, the U.S. History 'subject area test,' which they must take before graduating, starts in the 1870s. On this test, according to the Mississippi Department of Education's (MDE's) 'Student/Parent Information Guide,' you won't find questions about George Washington or Abraham Lincoln. Nothing about the Declaration of Independence, the birth of the Constitution or the debates on the Bill of Rights. The Revolutionary War, the War of 1812 and even the Civil War are all absent."

Thigpen recommends the "current U.S. History test should at least be augmented with the basic Civics Test given to immigrants who want to become U.S. citizens. Its 100 questions cover some current facts, such as the name of the president, but most of it is a good smattering of questions that cover the whole span of U.S. History."

Read Thigpen's full column: State test rewrites history.

Take a look at the current questions in the Mississippi Department of Education's U.S. History Sample Test Part 1 and Part 2.

Review the questions and answers to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Civics Test.

Source: Mississippi Center for Public Policy

January 18, 2017

Sheriff’s Office Took the Furniture: Mississippi's Asset Forfeiture Laws

"It was the first time in Mississippi attorney Richard Rehfeldt's long career that he can remember where police seized a client's furniture," writes C.J. Ciaramella at Reason Foundation’s "Hit & Run" Blog. "In 2012, Rehfeldt says, the Hinds County Sheriff's Office raided his client's apartment on suspicion her boyfriend was a drug dealer. Anything purchased with drug proceeds is fair game to be seized by police under civil asset forfeiture laws, and they determined the boyfriend had furnished the apartment, so off went her TV, her table and chairs, her couch, her lamps, and even the pictures on the wall. Under a settlement agreement, all of it was eventually returned. Well, all of it except the couch. The Institute for Justice gives Mississippi a C- grade for its asset forfeiture laws, noting the low burden of proof required for a seizure and the high amount of revenue that goes straight back into law enforcement budgets."

Source: Reason.com
Read the Article

Federal Agencies Approve 18 Rules for Every Law Congress Passes

In 2016, Congress passed “only” 211 Public Laws, according to Wayne Crews of the Competitive Enterprise Institute. But he says the bureaucracy was much busier, issuing 3,853 rules and regulations - 443 more than last year – which were published in a record-setting 97,110 pages of the Federal Register. That translated into an average of 18 rules and regulations for every law Congress passed. Crews calls that multiple The Unconstitutionality Index - the multiple of unelected agency rules, over the number of laws from our elected Congress.

Source: Competitive Enterprise Institute
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Take the Bill of Rights Quiz!

It has been 225 years since the Bill of Rights became part of the U.S. Constitution on December 15, 1791. How much do you know about it? This quiz, from the Ashbrook Center at Ashland University in Ohio, provides an opportunity for you to test and refresh your knowledge of the signing and adoption of the Bill of Rights, which comprises the first ten Amendments to the Constitution.

Source: Ashbrook Center at Ashland University
Take the Quiz

School Choice Liberty Luncheon Jan. 24 with Kevin Chavous

The Mississippi Center for Public Policy is providing an opportunity for you to hear from one of the leading school choice advocates in the nation about how school choice has changed the lives of thousands of children in the inner city of Washington D.C. and around the country.

Kevin Chavous is a noted author, attorney, national education reform leader, and as of 2016, a member of the District of Columbia Hall of Fame. As a D.C. City Council Member from 1993-2005, Mr. Chavous helped to shepherd the charter school movement into the nation's capital. Other options for low-income children have expanded under his leadership, including the D.C. Opportunity Scholarship Program, the first federal scholarship program, which has provided access to private schools for nearly 6,000 children from low-income families since its inception. Mr. Chavous worked with U.S. Education Secretary-designate Betsy DeVos to form American Federation for Children, a leading school choice organization.

He will be speaking on January 24, during National School Choice Week, at the Old Capitol Inn in Jackson from 11:30 AM to 1:00 PM. The cost is $15. Click here for more information or to register.

Preceding that event, you are invited to attend the National School Choice Week rally at the State Capitol from 9:30 – 10:00 AM.

Source: Mississippi Center for Public Policy
For more details, click here.

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President Trump signs ACA executive order

Administration will need legislation or personnel change to effect reform

President Donald Trump will need legislation or to change personnel if it wants its new executive order on the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) to make a significant policy change. That's according to Mississippi Attorney Pepper Crutcher who writes at the "Affordable Care Act Review," an insightful resource for anyone wanting to keep up with the ACA requirements or reform.

Crutcher writes, "Perhaps President Trump hopes by this Order to induce current DOL, IRS and HHS staff to delay and relax already overdue ACA enforcement efforts. But this Order does not command any waiver, delay, relaxation or other, particular, sub-regulatory guidance, which means, practically speaking, that the new President is asking the former President's appointees to cooperate to undo years of their work. We expect few volunteers. If that's a good guess, then the new Administration will need legislation, or personnel change, or both, to effect significant policy change."

Source: Affordable Care Act Review

Save Our Schools

Watch the Video - Sign the Petition

Charter schools in Mississippi are changing lives and this video tells some of the stories. But a lawsuit threatens to close charter schools and force children back into schools that were not meeting their needs. The Save Our Schools coalition is made up of students, parents, teachers, and concerned citizens who want children in Jackson, Mississippi to have access to high quality public charter schools. Watch the video and visit the Save Our Schools website to sign the petition to keep charter schools open.

Charter School Families Tell Their Stories

Source: SaveOurSchools.org

Mississippi earns "F" in forfeiture

National study says state lacks transparency

Mississippi received an "F" on 36 metrics and an "incomplete on one metric for forfeiture transparency and accountability. That grade comes from a recently released report by the Institute for Justice.

From the report: "Every year, local, state and federal law enforcement agencies across the United States seize and keep billions of dollars in cash, cars, homes and other property using a legal tool called forfeiture. With civil forfeiture, police and prosecutors can typically seize property on the mere suspicion it was involved in a crime. Most often, no charges or convictions are ever required to permanently deprive people of their property. Most of this forfeiture activity happens with little legislative or public oversight. So does most spending from forfeiture funds." Read the full report here.

Source: Institute for Justice

The "Mother, May I" Government

Federal bureaucracies "guidance" avoids oversight

Federal agencies use "guidance" to dictate policy that is not approved by Congress or even promulgated through the Administrative Procedure Act which requires review, input and advance public notice. Clyde Wayne Crews writes when bureaucrats make up the rules as they go along, it puts citizens and businesses in a "Mother, May I" society, unsure of what can or cannot be done. Read his perspective here.

Source: The Cato Institute

Obamacare promises largely unmet

Healthcare costs have increased; options have decreased

The promises and projections of the Affordable Care Act (ACA) have been largely unmet. Christopher Holt and Juliana Darrow write at the American Action Forum, "We were promised that we could keep our insurance plan, but at least 4.7 million people lost their plans when the law went into effect. We were promised we could keep our doctors, but the proliferation of narrow network plans has made that another false promise. We were promised the typical family would see their insurance premiums reduced by as much as $2,500. The reality is that since 2014, average premiums for exchange benchmark plans have increased by 37.1 percent. We were told that the ACA would 'bend the cost curve and start actually reducing health care costs', but it hasn't happened either. In the year prior to Obamacare's passage, health care spending grew at 4 percent, but in 2015, the second year of full implementation, it increased by 5.8 percent."

Source: American Action Forum "Obamacare: Promises Versus Reality"