Mississippi Today
The eagerly anticipated 2023 legislative session begins
The eagerly anticipated 2023 legislative session begins
Mississippi lawmakers, traveling to Jackson from every county and corner of the state, convened the 2023 legislative session on Jan. 3 at noon.
No matter how you strike it, what lawmakers accomplish over the next 90 days could impact the state for years to come. It's not hyperbole to say that generational transformation is possible for our state this session. Mississippi Today journalists will be in the halls of the Capitol every single day, asking tough but fair questions of our elected officials and letting you know what happens.
For all the problems the state faces, lawmakers are sitting on a revenue surplus of about $4 billion — more unencumbered money than the state has ever had on hand to spend. Legislators have broad flexibility on how to spend it, and many leaders disagree vehemently on specifics. This certainly sets up dramatic debate and a wild few weeks at the Capitol.
PODCAST: What to watch for in 2023 legislative session
We already know this is Speaker of the House Philip Gunn's final legislative session after serving three full terms, and there are already signals that his long-held power may already be waning. On the Senate side, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann faces some political crosswinds from within his own party that will play out between now and Feb. 1, the deadline to qualify for 2023 elections. With the strength of leadership in question in both chambers, we'll keep an eye on how policy making might be affected.
Here are some other key issues, among many others, we're watching closely this session:
- Mississippi is in a health care crisis. Dozens of rural hospitals across the state are on the verge of closing or significantly cutting back health services, and hundreds of thousands of residents cannot afford basic health care. One potential solution that is gaining momentum in recent weeks is expanding Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, as 39 other states have done. For more than 10 years, legislative leaders have rejected the program that would flow tens of millions more federal dollars into the state coffers and provide health care to working, poor Mississippians.
- Several cities and counties are struggling to keep water flowing to residents. Jackson, the state capital, in particular, has been at the center of national media coverage as residents of the state's largest city continue to not have reliable water services at home or businesses.
- All the while, several key legislative leaders want to completely eliminate the state income tax, which accounts for more than one-third of the revenue the state collects. Opponents of the move, including several Republicans, say the state cannot afford to lose that much annually with so many government services already underfunded. Some who oppose the tax cut want to instead send tax rebate checks directly to Mississippians.
- A broad coalition of Mississippi voters want but still do not have a ballot initiative process after the state Supreme Court struck it down in 2021. The process, which residents in most states have, allows voters to circumvent lawmakers in passing specific laws or policies.
To devote special attention to this potentially historic legislative session, we're launching our annual special section called the Mississippi Legislative Guide. There, you'll find the basics like how a bill becomes law, key legislative deadlines and how to find and contact your lawmakers. The centerpiece of the guide, of course, will be our newsroom's comprehensive coverage of the 2023 legislative session.
We hope this will be a helpful resource as you navigate these next few weeks, but we want to know how it could be improved. If you have questions or suggestions for us, don't hesitate to reach out.
Thank you, as always, for reading. We appreciate your support as ever.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1892
April 22, 1892
Fiery civil rights pioneer Vernon Johns was born in Darlington Heights, Virginia, in Prince Edward County. He taught himself German and other languages so well that when the dean of Oberlin College handed him a book of German scripture, Johns easily passed, won admission and became the top student at Oberlin College.
In 1948, the Dexter Avenue Baptist Church in Montgomery, Alabama, hired Johns, who mesmerized the crowd with his photographic memory of scripture. But he butted heads with the middle-class congregation when he chastised members for disliking muddy manual labor, selling cabbages, hams and watermelons on the streets near the state capitol.
He pressed civil rights issues, helping Black rape victims bring their cases to authorities, ordering a meal from a white restaurant and refusing to sit in the back of a bus. No one in the congregation followed his lead, and turmoil continued to rise between the pastor and his parishioners.
In May 1953, he resigned, returning to his family farm. His successor? A young preacher named Martin Luther King Jr.
James Earl Jones portrayed the eccentric pastor in the 1994 TV film, “Road to Freedom: The Vernon Johns Story,” and historian Taylor Branch profiled Johns in his Pulitzer-winning “Parting the Waters; America in the King Years 1954-63.”
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=351711
Mississippi Today
Podcast: Rep. Sam Creekmore says Legislature is making progress on public health, mental health reforms
House Public Health Chairman Sam Creekmore, R-New Albany, tells Mississippi Today's Geoff Pender and Taylor Vance he's hopeful he and other negotiators can strike a deal on Medicaid expansion to address dire issues in the unhealthiest state.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Did you miss our previous article…
https://www.biloxinewsevents.com/?p=351583
Mississippi Today
On this day in 1966
April 21, 1966
Milton Olive III became the first Black soldier awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor in the Vietnam War.
Olive had known tragedy in his life, his mother dying when he was only four hours old. He spent his early youth on Chicago's South Side and then moved to Lexington, Mississippi, where he stayed with his grandparents.
In 1964, he attended one of the Mississippi Freedom Schools, and he joined the work in Freedom Summer, registering Black voters. Concerned that he might be killed, his grandmother sent him back to Chicago, where he joined the military on his 18th birthday.
“You said I was crazy for joining up,” he wrote. “Well, I've gone you one better. I'm now an official U.S. Army Paratrooper.”
He joined the U.S. Army's 173rd Airborne Brigade and became known as “Preacher” for his quiet demeanor and his tendency to avoid cursing. On Oct. 22, 1965, helicopters dropped Olive and the 3rd Platoon of Company B into a dense jungle near Saigon. They returned fire on the Viet Cong, who retreated. As the soldiers pursued the enemy, a grenade was thrown into the middle of them. Olive grabbed the grenade and fell on it, absorbing the blast with his body.
“It was the most incredible display of selfless bravery I ever witnessed,” the platoon commander said.
Olive saved his fellow soldier's lives. Then-President Lyndon B. Johnson presented the medal to his father and stepmother, and he has since been honored with a park and a junior college named for him.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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