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Campaign finance reform bill gets cold response; lawmakers axe transparency component

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Campaign finance reform bill gets cold response; lawmakers axe transparency component

Inflamed by lack of investigation or enforcement of what he claimed were flagrant campaign finance violations by his opponent, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann after winning his reelection primary last summer vowed to push for reform.

Secretary of State Michael Watson, who said his hands were legally tied on dealing with such complaints, also vowed to push for reform and more authority for his office to police the flow of money into Mississippi politics.

On Tuesday the Senate Elections Committee moved forward a bill authored by Elections Chairman Jeremy England, R-Vancleave, one of Hosemann’s top lieutenants. The “omnibus” bill would give Watson’s office more power, add transparency for voters, increase penalties and fines and allow the secretary of state’s office to sidestep the AG’s office if it refuses to go after bad actors (which has been the current AG’s MO).

READ MORE: Attorney General Lynn Fitch wants campaign finance reform and more enforcement โ€” wait, what?

But lawmakers on both sides of the aisle in the Senate Elections Committee viewed the measure with a gimlet eye. They immediately axed its main transparency component, and added a “reverse repealer” to it, ensuring it cannot be passed into law as is. Only then did they send it along to the full Senate.

Mississippi lawmakers have long been loathe to expose themselves to transparency or strict ethics, lobbying or campaign finance rules and enforcement. The Legislature, for example, exempts itself from the open records and meetings laws it forces on others in government.

Mississippi’s campaign finance laws and requirements are lax, and enforcement is nearly nonexistent. These laws have been piecemealed over many years, and the resultant hodgepodge is a confusing, often conflicting set of codes.

Hosemann said he wants an overhaul, and England’s bill covered many fronts, creating a felony crime of perjury for willfully filing false finance reports, and a requirement that Mississippi join the modern age with candidates filing reports electronically and the secretary of state providing a publicly searchable database of campaign finance reports.

“This goes to the heart of the electoral in this country,” Hosemann said on Monday. “Our founding fathers said the best thing we can have is an informed voter, and to have an informed voter you need to know who’s paying for what, who’s contributing to these candidates.”

Most other states, including all those surrounding Mississippi, have searchable databases of campaign contributions. For instance, a voter could type in a donor’s name and see to whom and how much that donor has given. While Mississippi’s SOS office has online campaign finance records, they are non-searchable PDFs — essentially pictures of pages — and candidates are still allowed to file paper, handwritten — even written in crayon — campaign finance reports.

Watson has advocated creating a searchable database, and lawmakers are expected to approve about $5 million in for a new SOS computer system. England’s bill would have required a searchable database and candidates to file electronically by 2027.

But Sen. Hob Bryan, D-Amory, said requiring Mississippi candidates to use such technology — either filing electronic reports or filling out online forms — would be too onerous. He said this would prevent those who don’t have computers or cannot use them from running for office. He noted many areas of the state still lack high-speed internet service.

Bryan offered a successful amendment to strip the requirement for candidates to file campaign finance reports electronically.

Bryan and others also voiced trepidation about measures in the bill to aid investigation and prosecution of campaign finance violations. The measure, England said, changed a lot of “mays” about investigation and prosecution into “shalls.” It also says the secretary of state’s office, after it reports potential violations to the attorney general’s office, can hire outside counsel, engage a district attorney or find a special prosecutor if the AG’s office refuses to act.

“We are trying to clear up gray areas,” England said. “… so we don’t have situations where we don’t know who’s responsible to do what.”

But Sen. Joey Fillingane, R-Sumrall, said he fears this would amount to “shopping for a prosecutor who’s willing to prosecute … almost like fishing for prosecution.”

Bryan said, “I worry we are weaponizing the filing of complaints” against candidates.

After numerous critical questions about the measure, Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson, successfully offered an amendment to add a “reverse repealer” to the bill. This says the bill repeals before it could take effect, meaning it could not be passed into law without further scrutiny and work.

“Our laws can use a tune-up from time to time, but there are a lot of questions on this,” Blount said. “Let’s just keep working on this bill.”

England said that despite the rocky start, “I think we’ll get something out this year,” even if all the proposed reforms don’t make it. As to the searchable campaign finance database like other states have, he said, “I think we will eventually see that added back, just maybe not this year.”

The House this did not have an omnibus campaign finance reform bill, but had several smaller measures. Most died without a vote in committee with Tuesday’s deadline.

New House Speaker Jason White, who in the past has championed some campaign finance reform measures, said he is open to such legislation.

“One specific thing lots of lawmakers are talking about is how we can better enforce the laws we have on the books now,” White said recently. “Also, transparency and searchable information that is easily accessed and available to the public is another potential place we could improve.”

Some highlights of Senate Bill 2575 authored by England:

  • It would remove the state Ethics Commission from campaign finance duties. The commission, spartanly staffed and funded, had been given some oversight over campaign finance reports, but the law was unclear on its authority, and conflicted with other laws still on the books. Hosemann said the secretary of state and offices have more staff, attorneys and expertise to deal with the regulations and laws.
  • The bill would increase criminal penalties for willful violations of campaign finance laws from up to $3,000 and six months in jail to up to $5,000 and a year in jail. It would create a felony penalty of perjury for willfully filing false campaign finance reports. It would also increase fines and penalties for administrative violations, such as failing to file campaign finance reports timely.
  • It would define coordinated expenditures and electioneering, seeking to prohibit third parties spending to candidates but claiming they are acting independently and not contribution limits and cut down on millions in “dark money” that has begun flowing into Mississippi elections.
  • Would clearly define corporations and clarify that corporations both in state and out of state are limited to contributions of $1,000 a year. Recently, Lynn Fitch said state law is not clear on the definition of a corporation, and she opined that out-of-state corporations don’t face the $1,000 limit — contrary to decades of interpretation of Mississippi’s law and practice.
  • Would require candidates to list the name, address and occupation of a donor. It would also give the secretary of state authority to check reports to make sure they are complete and appear accurate. Under current law, the secretary’s office is simply a repository, and has little oversight on whether reports are accurate and complete.

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

Mississippi Today

Insurance chief willing to sue feds if Gov. Reeves doesnโ€™t support state health exchangeย 

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mississippitoday.org – Taylor Vance – 2024-11-04 04:00:00

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney is willing to sue the federal Centers for Medicare and Services if it does not allow Mississippi to create a state-based insurance exchange because of Republican Gov. Tate Reeves’ potential opposition.

Federal , who must approve of a state implementing its own health insurance exchange, want a letter of approval from a state’s governor before they allow a state to implement the program, according to Chaney.  

โ€œI don’t know what the governor’s going to do,โ€ Chaney told Mississippi . โ€œI think he’ll probably wait until after the election to make a . But I’m willing to sue CMS if that’s what it takes.โ€ 

The five-term commissioner, a Republican, said his requests to Reeves, also a Republican, to discuss the policy have gone unanswered. The governor’s office did not respond to a request to comment on this story. 

Earlier this year, the passed a authorizing Chaney’s agency to create a Mississippi-based exchange to replace the federal exchange that currently is used by to obtain health insurance. The bill became law without the governor’s signature.

States that operate their own exchanges can typically attract more companies to write health insurance policies and offer people policies at lower costs, and it would likely save the state millions of dollars in payments to the federal .

Chaney also said he’s been consulting with former Republican Gov. Haley Barbour, who also supported some version of a state-based exchange while in office, about implementing a state-based program. 

Currently, 21 states plus the District of Columbia have state-based exchanges, though three still operate from the federal platform. Should he follow through and sue the federal government, Chaney said he would use outside counsel and several other states told him they would join the lawsuit.

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

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On this day in 1868

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-11-03 07:00:00

Nov. 3, 1868

A campaign flier from the 1868 presidential election promoting the candidacy of Ulysses S. Grant for president and Schuyler Colfax for vice president. Credit: Wikimedia Commons

In the first presidential race in the wake of the , newly enfranchised Black in the South cast their first ballots. Their 700,000 votes helped elect Republican Ulysses S. Grant, whose campaign theme was, โ€œLet us have peace.โ€ 

In popular vote, he narrowly defeated his Democratic opponent, who demanded a restoration of states’ rights, which included the right to bar Black Americans from . Grant won by only 306,000 votes. 

In his inaugural address, he talked of unity. โ€œThe country just emerged from a great rebellion, many questions will ,โ€ he said. โ€œIt is desirable that they should be approached calmly, without prejudice, hate, or sectional pride, remembering that the greatest good to the greatest number is the object to be attained.โ€

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

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Lawsuit to officially outlaw abortion in Mississippi may not have standing at the state Supreme Court

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-11-03 06:00:00

Two high-profile cases in recent years where the limited standing to pursue lawsuits could impact the hot button issue of abortion that some believe could be speeding toward the state’s highest court.

Based on those landmark rulings by the Supreme Court, the never-ending saga continues: Mississippi is simultaneously a state where abortions are technically legal but also where medical providers make no effort to perform abortions.

A group of conservative โ€” Mississippi members of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists โ€” filed a lawsuit asking the courts to overturn a 1998 ruling by the Mississippi Supreme Court saying the state constitution provides a right to an abortion based on privacy.

In October, Chancellor Crystal Wise Martin said the physicians did not have the right to file the lawsuit because they could not prove they were harmed by the 1998 ruling. In legal parlance, Wise Martin found the physicians did not have standing to bring the lawsuit.

Attorney Aaron Rice, who represents the physicians, said he intends to file an appeal to the Mississippi Supreme Court asking that the Hinds County chancellor’s ruling be overturned.

But it can be argued that the two recent landmark rulings by the Mississippi Supreme Court seem to give credence to Wise Martin’s ruling. In a 2020 case, the Mississippi Supreme Court famously reversed past rulings and said state lawmakers did not have standing to sue the governor challenging his partial veto authority of appropriations bills.

And earlier this year, a Supreme Court majority ruled that the Parents for organization did not have the authority to sue challenging the constitutionality of a legislative decision to send public funds to private schools.

In the education funding case, Northern District Supreme Court Justice Robert Chamberlin, writing for the majority, ruled that Parents for Public Schools did not have standing to bring the lawsuit because the group โ€œfailed to sufficiently demonstrate an adverse impact that it suffers differently from the general public.โ€ In essence, a party must prove it will endure a specific harm in order to file a lawsuit challenging an action.

In a dissenting opinion, Central District Justice Leslie King asked, โ€œThis case begs the question: if parents of public school are not sufficiently adversely impacted to this action, who is?โ€

Every case is different. Perhaps Rice and the physicians can present an argument that makes enough distinctions on the issue of standing to succeed before the high court. But based on a lay reading of the standing rulings, it appears that the physicians have a tough row to hoe.

The doctors argue that because of the 1998 state Supreme Court ruling, they the risk of being punished if they refuse to help a patient obtain an abortion. But Hinds County Chancellor Wise Martin wrote that the conservative physician group โ€œacknowledged that it is not aware of any instance where a member physician has been disciplined or decertifiedโ€ฆfor refusing to abortion services.โ€

The judge added that under state Supreme Court precedent, โ€œthe potentialโ€ of something occurring, such as disciplinary action, is not enough reason to file a lawsuit.

Granted, this is all a bit convoluted since everyone knows Mississippi is the state that filed the lawsuit that led to the overturning Roe v. Wade and the national right to an abortion.

State politicians constantly tout their leadership in overturning Roe v. Wade. When the U.S. Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, Mississippi already had laws on the books outlawing abortion in most instances.

But then, someone realized that there was this pesky 1998 state Supreme Court ruling that found that the Mississippi Constitution provided the right to an abortion.

And, of course, people learned in 9th grade civics that the constitution as interpreted by the highest court in the land trumps a measly old law passed by a legislative body.

But then a funny thing happened. As the Mississippi Supreme Court moved slowly to rule on whether the 1998 ruling should be reversed, the state’s abortion providers packed up and left the state and decided not to pursue a case asking the state Supreme Court to rule on the case.

There is no doubt that the abortion providers could prove standing because they are indeed being harmed by the state laws.

But the abortion providers are not asking the state’s highest court to rule. They seemed satisfied with the current state of perpetual limbo on the issue.

If the doctors follow through with their commitment to take the case to the Mississippi Supreme Court, those past rulings limiting who has standing will no doubt be at the heart of discussion.

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

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