Mississippi Today

Transcript: Rep. Robert Johnson gives Democratic response to 2024 State of the State address

Published

2 months ago

February 26, 2024

Rep. Robert Johnson III, the Democratic leader of the House of Representatives, delivered a response to Gov. Tate Reeves' annual State of the State address on Feb. 26, 2024.

Below is the transcript of Johnson's response, which aired on Mississippi Public Broadcasting following Reeves' speech.

Editor's note: This transcript was submitted by Johnson's staff and has not been edited or formatted to match Mississippi Today's style.

Good Evening, I'm Rep. Robert Johnson, Democratic Leader in the Mississippi House of Representatives.

At his inauguration, Gov. Reeves kicked off his second term with a speech centered on how he'd strive to be a governor for “all Mississippi.” He told us that there is “no black Mississippi or white Mississippi. There is no red Mississippi or blue Mississippi,” while he outlined a vision for his second term that, frankly, belied his entire career in public office.

But after a contentious election cycle, and with Mississippi's big problems not going anywhere – and many getting worse – it was a welcome message. Since then, however, we've watched the governor go right back to what we've come to expect from him – red-meat rhetoric and a refusal to confront the very real problems facing our state.

Tonight you heard from a governor who only wants you to hear one side of the story. Because for every economic development project the governor celebrates, our employment rate remains stagnant.

For every corporate handout we dole out for one of those projects, our schools remain underfunded by billions of dollars.

And for every politically-motivated “plan” to address the hospital crisis, hundreds of thousands of working Mississippians are still without access to healthcare.

A real leader doesn't see telling the full story as a problem, because a real leader knows being honest isn't a weakness; it's a necessity. Embracing the complexities of a situation, engaging in earnest debate, collaborating with experts and advocates – that's what a leader does. Simply saying “no” isn't policymaking. Deflection and distraction isn't leadership.

Leadership looks like what Gov. Reeves claimed he was working toward in his inaugural address. But unfortunately, you can't just say you're a governor for all Mississippi. You have to show it. And Gov. Reeves' actions speak much louder than his words.

In the six weeks since the governor proclaimed that “everything we do, we do together,” he has quickly returned to his conservative buzzword approach to governance, saying whatever it takes to get him booked consistently on Fox News.

He's blocked nearly $40 million in federal funds to feed more than 300,000 hungry Mississippi children during the summer and help their struggling families.

And he has continued to downplay the severity of the healthcare crisis – ignoring the long-term damage our large uninsured population will have on an already strained healthcare system – even as his own party moves to address that problem without him.

I'm proud that House Democrats have continued to lead on addressing the healthcare crisis. Mississippi's healthcare landscape has been decimated by refusing to implement expansion in a timely fashion, and with an eye toward improving health outcomes in a cost-effective way, we've developed a pragmatic, practical, and easily implemented plan to get this conversation off the ground.

Our plan, HB 1146, would insure Mississippians up to 200% of the federal poverty level – those are individuals making roughly $30,000 a year. Traditional Medicaid expansion would only insure individuals who are at or below 138% of the federal poverty level.

This hybrid plan – a 50/50 combination of traditional Medicaid expansion with private options and premium assistance – will provide insurance coverage to the people that need it most, make insurance coverage more affordable for working families, and would help address the myriad issues facing the healthcare system in our state.

By expanding the number of individuals covered, our plan will improve access to care in a way that traditional Medicaid expansion on its own could not. Greater access to care leads to better management of chronic conditions, and the prevention of chronic disease. A healthier population will have increasingly positive long-term impacts on the affordability of healthcare across the board, and on the overall strength of our state's healthcare system.

Mississippi's struggling healthcare workforce will also benefit from insuring more individuals. We're facing a dangerous provider shortage, and as a result of financial returns that hospitals and providers will receive due to expanding Medicaid, we'll see improved physician retention.

Physicians, especially primary care providers and general internists, are more likely to locate themselves or stay in a state that has expanded Medicaid.

For Mississippians who are uninsured, or who have a job but don't have insurance through that job, they will be put on an individual qualified health plan and have the majority of their total costs subsidized to make it more affordable.

And for people who are working and have employer health insurance coverage, the state would subsidize their premiums and most of the cost sharing requirements for them. This will both make health insurance more affordable, and incentivize small businesses to offer a group health insurance plan.

Across the country, the Affordable Care Act has helped stabilize health costs for many small businesses that provide coverage, with the rate of small-business premium increases falling by half after implementation of the law.

And since 2010, the increase in small-business healthcare premiums has been at their lowest level in years, following regular double-digit increases prior to the law's enactment.

Small businesses are the backbone of our state's economy. And without a healthy workforce, our local economies suffer. We literally cannot afford to keep kicking the can down the road.

We're glad to see that all of us working toward a solution in the Capitol aren't being held back by a governor who is more interested in dismissing our effort to come up with a solution, than to offer up an alternative solution himself.

Year after year, House and Senate Democrats have offered up concrete ideas and common-sense solutions to move Mississippi forward. We've authored legislation to address the increasingly dangerous healthcare crisis, raise the minimum wage, fix our state's crumbling infrastructure, fully fund public education, make voting easier and more convenient, and increase transparency in government.

We have consistently led the charge on increasing teacher pay and a raise for state employees — and not just when it was politically beneficial to do so.

We've also sounded the alarm on ensuring equity in economic development, so that all corners of our state have the opportunity to flourish. And now, as the governor touts these so-called major economic development projects, and celebrates it being “Mississippi's time,” it's hard not to look around at the areas west of I-55 – where the bulk of Mississippi's Black population resides – and say “for who, governor?”

Mississippi has the lowest per capita income in the country. We have the highest rate of poverty in the country – nearly 20%. And both of those statistics are doubled or disproportionately worse in the Mississippi Delta and southwest Mississippi. Those numbers simply don't improve without intentional, equitable economic development.

So if the issue is an educated workforce, then fund our schools. If the issue is infrastructure, then put more money into our chronically underfunded roads and bridges. If you can spend millions of dollars on site readiness east of I-55, then why can't you spend millions readying sites west of I-55?

Refusing to prioritize equitable economic development is a choice. And the people of this state deserve to know why they have a governor who seems perfectly happy to let a significant number of his constituents flail while others continue to flourish.

During last year's State of the State and in every public appearance he made on the campaign trail, the governor has told us that “Mississippi continues to be in the best financial shape in its history.”

And yet, 30% of Mississippi children are living in poverty. One in six women of childbearing age is uninsured. State employees – the men and women who keep our state running – are, on average, paid thousands of dollars less than their counterparts in all of our surrounding states.

Our long-neglected roadways continue to cost Mississippians, on average, $800 in vehicle damage annually.

When you're driving to your child's baseball tournament in Vicksburg or you're on your way to the Coast for a long weekend — can you honestly say that what you see as you're looking out the window makes you stop and think “Yes. This is a state in the best financial shape it's ever been in. This is a state that is trying to keep our best and brightest. This is a state that is working for everyone who's trying their best to make a life here?”

So, I'm asking you: Is your life any different than it was this time last year? Are you wealthier? Are you healthier?

The governor will tell you that “when it comes to delivering a quality education for our children, we are getting the job done”; but we know there are classrooms that don't have pencils and chalk, or a full set of textbooks.

He'll tell you that “Mississippi is the safest place for the unborn”; but we know that Mississippi babies are more likely to die before their first birthday than anywhere else in the country.

He'll tell you “it's the strongest our economy has ever been”; and we ask “for who?” Who are you going to believe, Mississippi? The governor or your lying eyes?

It's one thing to have different approaches to solving our state's problems. It is quite another to refuse to acknowledge your citizens' concerns and ignore many of Mississippi's issues outright – all while telling us over and over again just how great everything is.

Mississippians share more values and principles than not. We care about what happens to our neighbors because that's just who we are. We want our families to prosper and for our children to have a better future and more opportunities than we did.

Our state is in desperate need of a leader who sees all of that and governs based on it.

We deserve a governor who has respect for his fellow Mississippian, someone who will lead with honesty and empathy and compassion, and who can make the best decisions for everyone, not just a select few. We deserve a leader who will not only hear people, but listen to them.

It's up to us to demand better. Things won't get better in this state if we continue to let the governor — or any other elected leader — get away with lip service. It's not enough to just say you're a governor for all Mississippi. You need to show us what that looks like in practice.

We're a better place when we work together and overcome our differences for the good of the people we represent. We need leaders who bring people together, who acknowledge the problems we face and try to understand the causes of those problems alongside the people most affected.

That's what leadership looks like. That's what Mississippi needs from its governor.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Post Views: 113

Related Topics:Featured Mississippi News Mississippi Today News

Up Next

Former Gov. Phil Bryant boasted of Prevacus stock offer at Christmas party, court filing alleges

Don't Miss

Gov. Reeves doesn’t mention Medicaid expansion or health care crisis in State of the State address

Mississippi Today

Some notable bills that died in the 2024 Mississippi legislative session

Published

3 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2024-05-07 05:30:00

As the Mississippi Legislature adjourned its 2024 regular session on Saturday, only a fraction of the thousands of bills introduced by legislators survived to become law.

The most notable item that died during the session was Medicaid expansion, a policy that would have allowed thousands of Mississippians to receive health coverage and potentially give struggling hospitals a needed financial boost.

But several other pieces of legislation such as early voting and overhauling the way the state restores voting rights to people convicted of certain felony offenses also died during the session.

Unless Republican Gov. Tate Reeves calls legislators into a special legislative session, lawmakers will now have to wait until their 2025 session next year to introduce any more legislation this year.

Here are some other bills that died after the 2024 legislative session adjourned on Saturday:

Judicial redistricting

House Bill 722 and Senate Bill 2771 would have redrawn the state's circuit and chancery court districts, but negotiations stalled between the House and the Senate on adopting a final map.

The current court districts have largely remained unchanged for 30 years. Senate Judiciary A Committee Chairman Brice Wiggins, a Republican from Pascagoula who was the Senate's lead negotiator, believed the Legislature should use population data and the number of active court cases in each district to substantively redraw them.

Wiggins sent the House a plan that passed the Senate 32-13. But the House didn't agree to the Senate plan, and it did not reveal its own redistricting proposal.

House Judiciary B Chairman Kevin Horan, a Republican from Grenada and the main House negotiator, said he wanted to agree on a plan this year, but he thought there were too many stakeholders, such as judges, whom he believed did not have their opinions considered in how the new districts should look.

“This issue is too important for them to not have their voices heard,” Horan said.

Both committee leaders told Mississippi Today they intend to conduct hearings in the summer or the fall to hear from judges, district attorneys and officials from the Administrative Office of Courts on what metrics should be considered for new districts.

Lawmakers have until 2025 to agree on a set of new maps. If the two chambers cannot reach a compromise by early next year, Mississippi Supreme Court Chief Justice Michael Randolph will be tasked with redrawing the new chancery and circuit court districts.

Mobile sports betting

House Bill 774, the Mississippi Mobile Sports Wagering Act, would have legalized mobile sports betting and allowed Mississippi to join more than two dozen other states where the practice is legal.

Sports wagering has been legal in Mississippi for years, but online betting has remained illegal in part from fears the move could erode profits of the state's brick and mortar casinos located along the Mississippi River and the Gulf Coast.

The initial proposal would have required betting companies to contract with casinos, but some lawmakers raised concerns that the legislation did not offer any incentives for major betting companies to partner with smaller casinos.

The two chambers passed different versions of the same bill, and they couldn't reach an accord during the conference committee process.

Senate Gaming Chairman David Blount, a Democrat from Jackson, told Mississippi Today that there was division among casino owners on how the legislation would impact physical casinos and their employees and offered little protection for people who struggle with gambling addiction.

Blount said he hopes casino owners and lawmakers will continue to discuss the issue during the off season and debate the issue more next year.

Replacing Mississippi's white supremacist statues in Washington

Senate Bill 2231 and House Concurrent Resolution 12 would have replaced Mississippi's statutes of J.Z. George and Jefferson Davis, two white supremacists, in the U.S. Capitol in Washington.

Other Southern states such as Alabama, Florida and Arkansas, have replaced their statues of white supremacists, but Mississippi remains the only state in the nation with two Confederate leaders in the National Statuary Hall Collection in Washington.

Federal law allows for states to replace their statues, but a majority of lawmakers in both legislative chambers must vote to approve the replacement, and the state is required to pay for the costs of replacing the statues.

House Rules Chairman Fred Shanks, a Republican from Brandon, previously said he did not know much about the National Statuary Hall Collection, but that he would study the issue.

Early voting

Senate Bill 2580 would have established in-person early voting and let Mississippi join 47 other states that authorize the practice in some form.

The bill would have allowed 15 days of no-excuse early voting before election day and required voters to submit a valid photo ID to cast a ballot. It would have replaced in-person absentee voting.

The bill passed the Senate overwhelmingly, but House Elections Chairman Noah Sanford, a Republican from Collins, said he received concerns about the proposal from some county circuit clerks, the local officials who administer elections.

Instead, Sanford said he would like to conduct some hearings in the summer or fall to examine the issue further and allow circuit clerks and others to present information. He said that after the hearings he would be more open to passing early voting legislation.

Restoring a ballot initiative

For the third straight year, lawmakers could not agree on a way to restore Mississippi's ballot initiative process.

House Concurrent Resolution 11 and Senate Bill 2770 would have created a process for voters to bypass lawmakers and place issues directly on a statewide ballot for consideration. The process would only allow voters to amend laws and not the constitution.

The House passed a proposal that would have created an initiative process that organizers to gather signatures from 8% of the number of registered voters during the last governor's race, which the Secretary of State's office estimated to be around 166,000.

Senate leaders proposed a plan that would have required petitions to gather signatures from 10% of the registered voters from the last presidential election – more than 200,000 signatures of registered voters – to place an issue on the ballot. The Senate chamber rejected that proposal.

Both the House and Senate plans would have restricted voters from considering any initiative related to abortion.

Mississippians have not had an initiative process since 2021, when the Mississippi Supreme Court ruled it invalid because of a technicality over the state's congressional districts.

Felony suffrage overhaul

House Bill 1609 would have automatically restored voting rights to people convicted of nonviolent felony offenses, as long as they had not committed another felony within five years of completing the terms of their sentence.

The legislation passed the House by a bipartisan majority, but Senate Constitution Chairwoman Angela Hill killed the measure by not bringing it up for a vote.

Under the Mississippi Constitution, people convicted of any of 10 felonies — including perjury, arson and bigamy — lose their voting rights for life. A 2009 opinion from the Mississippi Attorney General's Office expanded the list of disenfranchising felonies to 22.

The constitutional provision stems from Jim Crow-era policy where the framers of the 1890 constitution chose disenfranchising crimes thought to be more likely committed by Black people.

Mississippi is one of only a handful of states that does not automatically restore voting rights to people who complete their sentences. Instead, two-thirds of lawmakers in both chambers must agree to restore the suffrage to individuals in a piecemeal fashion.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Post Views: 14

Mississippi Today

Bill increasing tax credits for private schools defeated at end of session

Published

4 hours ago

May 7, 2024

Staff Editor

mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-05-07 04:12:00

Legislation that would have increased the proceeds from state tax credits available to private schools died a quiet death late in the just-completed 2024 session.

The proposal to increase the tax credits available through the Children's Promise Act was defeated in the 52-member Senate with 21 yes votes and 16 no votes. Since the proposal dealt with taxation, it needed a three-fifths majority to pass.

Since 2020, private schools have been receiving money through the tax credits with limited state scrutiny or accountability, according to the Department of Revenue, which certifies schools that can participate in the program.

In response to written requests from legislators, the Department of Revenue recently reported, “DOR does not know how the funds were used.”

When asked the number of children served through the Children's Promise Act, DOR said, “This information may be provided with the original application but is not updated annually or maintained by DOR.”

In the original application, “DOR reviews the information provided and issues a letter ruling advising whether they qualify or not. The original request is covered under confidentiality statues.”

Under the Children's Promise Act, a person or corporation can make a donation to one of the private schools certified by the Department of Revenue and receive a dollar-for-dollar tax credit for up to 50% of the donor's state tax liability.

The maximum a private school currently can receive through the program is $405,000 a year.

The program was initiated in 2019 and billed as a mechanism to provide additional money to non-profits that care for foster children. But a provision to provide tax credits to private schools was tucked into the bill.

Currently under the law a total of $9 million a year in tax credit money can be doled out to private schools.

Original legislation filed during the 2024 session by House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, would have significantly increased the amount of the tax credit money the private schools could have received. The original House plan would add another $6 million for the current year and then would reach a total of $24 million for 2025.

But in negotiations with Senae leaders during the final days of the session, an agreement was reached where the private schools would have been able to receive an additional $3 million, for a total of $12 million. But that compromise was voted down in the Senate. After it was defeated in the Senate, Lamar did not bring up the compromise for a vote in the House.

Under the current law, private schools are eligible for the tax credits if they educate:

Children in the foster care system.

Children who have a chronic illness or physical, intellectual, developmental or emotional disability.

Children eligible for free or reduced meals.

Nancy Loome, executive director of the Parents Campaign, said technically if the school has one student with a speech impediment, for instance, it could receive the tax credit money.

This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.

Post Views: 16

Mississippi Today

Read Mississippi Today’s Pulitzer Prize finalist series ‘’Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs”

Published

17 hours ago

May 6, 2024

Staff Editor

Mississippi Today's “Unfettered Power: Mississippi Sheriffs” investigation has been named a finalist for the 2024 Pulitzer Prize for Local Reporting.

The 2023 investigation from the Mississippi Center for Investigative Reporting at Mississippi Today and The New York Times' Local Investigations Fellowship revealed how Mississippi sheriffs rule like kings, wielding vast power, exploiting and abusing the very people they are called to protect with no one stopping them.