Mississippi Today
Will Gov. Reeves break out his veto stamp on Legislature's 'Christmas tree' bill of pet projects?
Will Gov. Reeves break out his veto stamp on Legislature's ‘Christmas tree' bill of pet projects?
In their final act of the 2023 session, in the wee hours of the morning April 1, Mississippi lawmakers passed a “Christmas tree” bill with $372 million in local pet projects.
It includes spending on parks, theaters, museums, city halls and courthouses, streets, volunteer fire stations, boat ramps and waterfront developments. From Adams County to Zama, nearly every hamlet — and every lawmaker — in Mississippi got a taste of the election-year spending.
Now the question is, will Gov. Tate Reeves veto some or all of the spending? He did last year, albeit selectively, nixing 10 projects worth about $27 million out of a similar $223 million local projects bill. This year's bill even includes a re-try by lawmakers of some of the specific projects he vetoed last year.
But Reeves is up for reelection this year, facing Democratic challenger Public Service Commissioner Brandon Presley, whose knocks on Reeves include that he's out-of-touch with rural and average Mississippians. Reeves may be reluctant to veto spending on projects with grassroots local support and anger lawmakers and their constituents during an election year.
FULL LIST: The pet projects lawmakers passed during the 2023 legislative session
Reeves called the projects he vetoed last year “wasteful” spending, but critics at the time noted that he approved most of the dozens of projects in the bill, including some that appeared very similar to the ones he vetoed.
For instance, he vetoed $500,000 last year for a green-space park around the federal courthouse in Greenville, but approved many other city beautification projects across the state.
Jackson bore the brunt of the governor's 2022 vetoes, with four projects including upgrades to the capital city's planetarium, a golf course and nature trail at LeFleur's Bluff State Park. Reeves said the city had too many other problems, including crumbling infrastructure and crime, to be spending money on parks and a planetarium. But many other cities whose parks, museum and other projects he approved also have dire infrastructure and other major issues.
For this year, lawmakers re-upped $2 million in funding for Jackson's planetarium in the projects bill. They also included in another bill money for LeFleur's Bluff Park, although it is apparently not earmarked for golf course renovations.
Explaining his vetoes to reporters last year, Reeves said, “I vetoed some spending that is simply not state taxpayers' responsibility.” He said this included city office upgrades. In this year's bill, lawmakers funded numerous renovation projects for city and county government offices along with coliseums, amphitheaters, music halls and civic centers.
READ MORE: Gov. Tate Reeves blocks state funding for major Jackson park improvement, planetarium
When asked for comment this week about his plans for the Christmas tree bill, Reeves' spokesman Cory Custer said in a statement: “Mississippi Today is not a news organization, it is an unregistered Democrat PAC.”
Reeves has until April 22 to sign the bill into law or exercise his veto authority. The Mississippi Constitution gives governors the authority to issue partial or line-item vetoes of appropriations bills, though, there is debate about whether his vetoes last year were legal.
But since they never were challenged in court, the vetoes stood.
This year, if he vetoes any of the projects approved by legislators, there will be similar questions about whether the vetoes are legal.
In legislative parlance the bill containing most of the projects is not an appropriations bill. Another bill appropriates funds to the Department of Finance and Administration to fund the projects. But the projects themselves are in what is known as a general bill, which according to the constitution the governor must veto in whole or not at all.
House Speaker Philip Gunn said of last year's vetoes, “… I am not aware of any provision under the law that allows the governor to veto partially a general bill. He has to veto all of it or none of it … That may be more than people want to understand but there are differences in the types of bills we have up here.”
And Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, who successfully won a lawsuit against former Gov. Kirk Fordice for his partial vetoes in the 1990s, said of Reeves' 2022 vetoes, “We're just transferring money from one account to another, or from one purpose to another. That is not an appropriation. That is a transfer. I understand that to be what they are arguing and will not be subject to the line item.”
But in the end, no one challenged Reeves' vetoes last year.
Eash year the Legislature approves similar projects throughout the state, but the number approved during the 2003 session is historic. Legislators were able to expend such a large amount of funds on such projects because of unprecedented revenue growth in recent years.
Legislators have opted to spend those funds on such projects while not expanding Medicaid to ensure health care for primarily for the working poor and while not fully funding public education.
Also, for two years legislators have opted to leave a huge amount of revenue unspent.
Legislators submit their priority projects to the leadership early in the session. During the final days of the session, a small group of legislative leaders meet behind closed doors to determine how much money is available for projects and which projects will be funded.
Each year rank-and-file legislators learn late in the session whether their projects were funded. This year they learned soon after the clock rolled over to April Fool's Day — April 1.
They will learn in the coming days whether their projects will survive Tate Reeves' veto pen.
READ MORE: Latest Reeves vetoes could again expand governor's power
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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Mississippi Today
EPA absolves MDEQ, Health Department of discrimination in funding Jackson water
About a year and half ago, on the heels of Jackson's infamous water system failure, advocates and politicians from Mississippi began publicly questioning the funding mechanisms that are supposed to support such systems.
In October 2022, U.S. Reps. Bennie Thompson and Carolyn Maloney wrote Gov. Tate Reeves, grilling him over an apparent disparity in how federal infrastructure funds were allocated to Jackson versus other parts of the state.
Then days later, the Environmental Protection Agency's civil rights office opened an investigation into two state agencies — the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality and the Mississippi Department of Health — in response to the NAACP's claims of discrimination under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. Title VI prohibits discrimination — based on race, color or national origin — in providing federal assistance.
On Monday, though, the EPA announced it had ended the probe after finding no evidence the agencies had short-changed Jackson's water system. In its investigation, the EPA looked at the funding amounts and racial demographics of cities that received water funding from MDEQ and the Health Department and determined there was no correlation between the two factors.
“The evidence overwhelmingly shows that the Mississippi Department of Environmental Quality did everything right,” MDEQ Executive Director Chris Wells said in a press release following the EPA's announcement.
The two agencies are in charge of disbursing funds from the EPA called “state revolving loan,” or SRF, funds, which are meant to help cities make infrastructure improvements. MDEQ handles SRF funds related to wastewater infrastructure, while the Health Department handles SRF funds for drinking water.
But the claims against the agencies were only part of the 2022 complaint the NAACP filed with the EPA. The federal agency did not address another complaint: The group also focused on the state Legislature, which has denied attempts in recent years by Jackson to raise money for its water system, such as creating a new 1% tax.
Click here for the EPA's full responses to MDEQ and Health Department.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Mississippi Today
MSGOP Chair Bordeaux stepping down. Mike Hurst endorsed as successor
Mississippi Republican Party Chairman Frank Bordeaux announced on Wednesday that he will not seek reelection to his post and endorsed former U.S. Attorney Mike Hurst to succeed him.
Bordeaux, an insurance executive, wrote on Facebook that he's had a great tenure as the party's chairman, but it was time to “pass the torch” to a “new leader with a fresh perspective.”
“We've seen a lot of success,” Bordeaux said. “We've elected more Republicans in the last few years to local, state, and federal offices than at any point in history. With every election, we've gained seats and put more conservatives in positions to improve the lives of Mississippians.”
Republican Gov. Tate Reeves in September 2020 backed Bordeaux, a longtime Coast resident, to replace former GOP Chairman Lucien Smith, a move that likely proved crucial to the governor transforming the Coast into a political firewall of support during the 2023 statewide election.
It's typical for a sitting Republican governor, as head of the state party, to pick a new chairman. While the executive committee technically elects a GOP chairman, a governor's choice is typically installed by acclamation. There has been no major executive committee challenge to a Republican governor's chairman nomination in recent history.
Reeves did not immediately make a statement after Bordeaux' announcement on social media, but Hurst in a statement on Wednesday indicated he has Reeves' support.
“I want to thank Gov. Tate Reeves for his support, Chairman Frank Bordeaux for his incredible leadership, and the staff of the MSGOP, who have all raised our party to new heights and have achieved so much for our conservative principles over the last number of years,” Hurst said.
“Our future is bright in Mississippi and, if elected chairman, I hope I can play a small role in making our state and our party even better in the future,” Hurst added.
READ MORE: Lucien Smith out as MSGOP chair; Gov. Reeves backs Gulf Coast businessman to replace him
Republican Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann in a statement Wednesday said: “Being chairman is a tough, uncompensated job which takes a significant amount of personal time. Frank's leadership through part of the pandemic and the recent statewide election has been pivotal to bringing organization, unity, and success to the Republican Party across the state. We appreciate his service and look forward to continuing his efforts under the guidance of Mike Hurst.”
Hurst has been involved in state and national Republican politics for years. He is currently a partner in the Phelps Dunbar law firm's Jackson office. Hurst served as the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Mississippi under President Donald Trump's administration from 2017 to 2021, and previously served as an assistant U.S. attorney.
Prior to his presidential appointment, Hurst was the founder and director of the Mississippi Justice Institute, a division of the Mississippi Center for Public Policy. He also previously served as a legislative director and counsel to then-U.S. Rep. Chip Pickering, and served as counsel to the Constitution Subcommittee of the U.S. House Judiciary Committee.
Hurst's wife, Celeste Hurst, was elected last year to the state House District 77 seat, representing Madison, Rankin and Scott counties.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
Crooked Letter Sports Podcast
Podcast: It’s crunch time in both college and high school baseball.
We are into the second week of May, which means the college and high school baseball seasons have reached the point where every pitch matters. At present, Mississippi State is a likely 2-seed, Southern Miss is a 3-seed and Ole Miss is on the outside looking in. The Rebels, however, can change that this weekend when No. 1 ranked Texas A&M comes to Oxford. Also, Tyler gives the lowdown on all the high school baseball playoff action.
Stream all episodes here.
This article first appeared on Mississippi Today and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.
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