Miss. state reps come to listen
Multiple state legislators from across Mississippi will attend a public input session from 9 a.m. to noon, Saturday at the Sportsplex on Lynn Lane. The informal meeting will give citizens a chance to speak to state leaders ahead of the next legislative session on January 3.
The event is part of a statewide input series, and is sponsored by the Mississippi Legislative Black Caucus.
"We want to hear what the people are saying," said District 38 Representative Tyrone Ellis, D-Starkville. "This is not a black or white issue. This is a people thing. I want the people to feel free to voice their concerns. We are trying to listen to the people, to give them a voice in the upcoming session. They need to have a voice so that they can speak to us unencumbered."
Topics will range from criminal justice reform to education and mental health funding, along with budget issues facing the state. The session will also touch on Medicad expansion, the state of Mississippi's infrastructure and tax issues stemming from corporate tax breaks. The event will be moderated by former MSU Stennis Institute of Government and Community Development Director Marty Wiseman. Some representatives present will include: • District 8 Sen. Russel Jolly, D-Houston • District 16 Sen. Angela Turner, DStarkville
• District 32 Sen. Sampson Jackson, DLouisville
• District 22 Rep. Preston Sullivan, DHouston
• District 36 Rep. Karl Gibbs, D-West Point
• District 41 Rep. Kabir Karriem, D-Columbus
"We will be listening intently about what the people's concerns are," Ellis said. "We will be taking notes. We will be doing more listening than talking. We want to hear how people feel about key issues facing our state."
The U.S. Department of Justice announced in August it will move away from using private prisons after a DOJ audit found multiple safety and security issues in privately-held incarceration facilities. Earlier this month, Mississippi closed the private Walnut Grove Correctional Facility, after it had become a hotbed for inmate abuse, according to the American Civil Liberties Union.
The facility was at the center of a lawsuit alleging guards at Walnut Grove smuggled drugs and assaulted inmates. The prison was put under federal oversight in 2012, after a judge ruled on the abusive conditions. Issues continued until the Mississippi Department of Corrections removed the facility's maximum security prisoners.
Court documents from 2015 show an inmate testified gang members fought each other on a daily basis, and a health care worker had sexually assaulted the inmate while working in the infirmary. The state had paid the facility $14.6 million annually to run the private institution.
The MDOC still uses three privately run prisons across the state.
'We do not need this, and I said that 20 years ago when they came to our state," Ellis said. "It's bad for our citizens, and the only benefactors from this would be the stoke
holders in the private prisons. We need to defeat this. The chickens have come home to roost, and now people are realizing we need to do something about this."
An education report from the U.S. Census Bureau shows Mississippi ranks 46th nationally in per student spending, even after a 2014 funding increase. The state spends just over $8,200 per pupil—below the national average of $11,009. New York spent the highest per student—over $20,000, according to census data. Arkansas, Alabama and Mississippi are among the nation's lowest ranked in the report.
"To me, that makes us number 50," Ellis said. "We need to deal with this."
Last year, a citizen-led referendum to force
state legislators to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program failed. The MAEP was underfunded in the past legislative session by nearly $172 million, according to the Parents Campaign. The program took an additional near-$10 million hit as part of Gov. Phil Bryant's mandated budget cuts approved last April.
In April, Bryant approved the largest tax cut in the state's history, a move set to reduce taxes by $415 million over the next 12 years. A plan to phase out Mississippi's corporate franchise tax was approved, and will take away around $260 million annually in tax revenue. Bryant's tax cut also slashed $145 million in income taxes, boosting the threshold
for paying state income taxes to $10,000. Anyone making $10,000 would eventually receive a $150 per year cut. All reductions will begin in 2018.
"We want people to voice concerns about where the money is coming from, when they shift taxes back to the municipalities and the counties," Ellis said. "How is that going to impact us locally? That's something to be concerned about. Come 2018, it will be too late to turn that around."
"When that money starts coming away from the county, the cities are going to have to absorb that loss," Ellis added. "Therefore, they will have to increase taxes on their citizens."