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Senators keep watered-down ballot initiative bill alive, vow to improve it

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Senators keep watered-down ballot initiative bill alive, vow to improve it

Legislation to revive Mississippi’s ballot initiative process was kept alive when it was passed out of committee late Tuesday, a key deadline day.

But the proposal as written does not appear to allow voters to completely circumvent the legislative process, as is generally the goal of initiatives. It simply lets voters make suggestions to legislators, who can later choose to alter the wishes of voters.

The proposal includes confusing language that seems to say the Legislature, by a two-thirds vote, could amend the proposal that was placed on the ballot.

“We (legislators) are still the gatekeeper?” asked Sen. Angela Turner Ford, D-West Point, of the proposal.

The author of the bill Sen. Tyler McCaughn, R-Newton, said under the proposal the Legislature would, indeed, be the gatekeeper.

Turner Ford continued: “What is the purpose of having an initiative process… if we can reject” the proposals offered by citizens.

“The whole point of the initiative process is to get around the Legislature,” said Sen. David Blount, D-Jackson.

READ MORE: Mississippi Supreme Court strikes down ballot initiative process

McCaughn said he understands the concerns expressed by Turner Ford and Blount and said he is willing to work with them to improve the bill as it moves through the process.

He said the key was to pass something out of committee on Tuesday, which was the deadline to pass bills out of committee in the chamber where they originated.

“I think we are to a point where we have to do something,” said McCaughn, adding voters want an initiative process. “This is a starting point.”

Blount said the proposal “needs a lot of work” as it moves through the process.

The bill then passed out of the Senate Accountability, Efficiency, Transparency Committee, which is the committee where Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann sent the proposal instead of the more traditional Constitution Committee.

The Mississippi Supreme Court struck down the state’s ballot initiative process in 2021 because it mandated the number of signatures be gathered equally among five congressional districts as they existed in 1990. The state, though, has only four districts, losing one as a result of the 2000 census.

After the 2021 Supreme Court ruling, most of the state’s political leadership, including Hosemann and Speaker Philip Gunn, said the Legislature would fix and revive the process.

But in the 2022 session, the proposal died when Hosemann and Accountability Chair John Polk, R-Hattiesburg, wanted to more than double the number of signatures needed to place an issue on the ballot. Under the old initiative process that was struck down by the court, it required the signatures of 12% of the voters from the last gubernatorial election, or about 100,000 signatures, to place an issue on the ballot. The Senate leaders had supported requiring about 240,000 signatures be gathered to place an issue on the ballot.

The proposal passed out of committee on Tuesday would require gathering signatures of 12% of all registered voters, or about 240,000 voters.

“This should not be an easy threshold for them to make,” said Sen. Kevin Blackwell, R-Southaven, of increasing the number of signatures needed to place an issue on the ballot.

The legislation also required at least 100 signatures of registered votes from each of the 82 counties and 10 signatures each from the about 300 municipalities. Blount pointed out there are municipalities in the state that have 50 residents or fewer and might not have 10 registered voters.

Blount asked why some legislators appear to be so fearful of the initiative process.

Blount said the old process was in effect for more than 30 years and “it was not out of control.” During that time, six initiatives made the ballot and three of those were approved by voters.

House Constitution Chair Fred Shanks, R-Brandon, did not pass a House proposal by Tuesday’s deadline. He said he had been working with the Senate leadership and was certain an initiative proposal would come out of the Senate to be considered by the House. But the proposal, as it stands now, would not meet the criteria of what the House supported last year.

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

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1997

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-22 07:00:00

Dec. 22, 1997

Myrlie Evers and Reena Evers-Everette cheer the jury verdict of Feb. 5, 1994, when Byron De La Beckwith was found guilty of the 1963 murder of Mississippi NAACP leader Medgar Evers. Credit: AP/Rogelio Solis

The Mississippi Supreme Court upheld the conviction of white supremacist Byron De La Beckwith for the 1963 murder of Medgar Evers. 

In the court’s 4–2 decision, Justice Mike Mills praised efforts “to squeeze justice out of the harm caused by a furtive explosion which erupted from dark bushes on a June night in Jackson, Mississippi.” 

He wrote that Beckwith’s constitutional right to a speedy trial had not been denied. His “complicity with the Sovereignty Commission’s involvement in the prior trials contributed to the delay.” 

The decision did more than ensure that Beckwith would stay behind bars. The conviction helped clear the way for other prosecutions of unpunished killings from the Civil Rights Era.

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

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Mississippi Today

Medicaid expansion tracker approaches $1 billion loss for Mississippi

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mississippitoday.org – Bobby Harrison – 2024-12-22 06:00:00

About the time people ring in the new year next week, the digital tracker on Mississippi Today’s homepage tabulating the amount of money the state is losing by not expanding Medicaid will hit $1 billion.

The state has lost $1 billion not since the start of the quickly departing 2024 but since the beginning of the state’s fiscal year on July 1.

Some who oppose Medicaid expansion say the digital tracker is flawed.

During an October news conference, when state Auditor Shad White unveiled details of his $2 million study seeking ways to cut state government spending, he said he did not look at Medicaid expansion as a method to save money or grow state revenue.

“I think that (Mississippi Today) calculator is wrong,” White said. “… I don’t think that takes into account how many people are going to be moved off the federal health care exchange where their health care is paid for fully by the federal government and moved onto Medicaid.”

White is not the only Mississippi politician who has expressed concern that if Medicaid expansion were enacted, thousands of people would lose their insurance on the exchange and be forced to enroll in Medicaid for health care coverage.

Mississippi Today’s projections used for the tracker are based on studies conducted by the Institutions of Higher Learning University Research Center. Granted, there are a lot of variables in the study that are inexact. It is impossible to say, for example, how many people will get sick and need health care, thus increasing the cost of Medicaid expansion. But is reasonable that the projections of the University Research Center are in the ballpark of being accurate and close to other studies conducted by health care experts.

White and others are correct that Mississippi Today’s calculator does not take into account money flowing into the state for people covered on the health care exchange. But that money does not go to the state; it goes to insurance companies that, granted, use that money to reimburse Mississippians for providing health care. But at least a portion of the money goes to out-of-state insurance companies as profits.

Both Medicaid expansion and the health care exchange are part of the Affordable Care Act. Under Medicaid expansion people earning up to $20,120 annually can sign up for Medicaid and the federal government will pay the bulk of the cost. Mississippi is one of 10 states that have not opted into Medicaid expansion.

People making more than $14,580 annually can garner private insurance through the health insurance exchanges, and people below certain income levels can receive help from the federal government in paying for that coverage.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, legislation championed and signed into law by President Joe Biden significantly increased the federal subsidies provided to people receiving insurance on the exchange. Those increased subsidies led to many Mississippians — desperate for health care — turning to the exchange for help.

White, state Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney, Gov. Tate Reeves and others have expressed concern that those people would lose their private health insurance and be forced to sign up for Medicaid if lawmakers vote to expand Medicaid.

They are correct.

But they do not mention that the enhanced benefits authored by the Biden administration are scheduled to expire in December 2025 unless they are reenacted by Congress. The incoming Donald Trump administration has given no indication it will continue the enhanced subsidies.

As a matter of fact, the Trump administration, led by billionaire Elon Musk, is looking for ways to cut federal spending.

Some have speculated that Medicaid expansion also could be on Musk’s chopping block.

That is possible. But remember congressional action is required to continue the enhanced subsidies. On the flip side, congressional action would most likely be required to end or cut Medicaid expansion.

Would the multiple U.S. senators and House members in the red states that have expanded Medicaid vote to end a program that is providing health care to thousands of their constituents?

If Congress does not continue Biden’s enhanced subsidies, the rates for Mississippians on the exchange will increase on average about $500 per year, according to a study by KFF, a national health advocacy nonprofit. If that occurs, it is likely that many of the 280,000 Mississippians on the exchange will drop their coverage.

The result will be that Mississippi’s rate of uninsured — already one of the highest in the nation – will rise further, putting additional pressure on hospitals and other providers who will be treating patients who have no ability to pay.

In the meantime, the Mississippi Today counter that tracks the amount of money Mississippi is losing by not expanding Medicaid keeps ticking up.

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

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Mississippi Today

On this day in 1911

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mississippitoday.org – Jerry Mitchell – 2024-12-21 07:00:00

Dec. 21, 1911

A colorized photograph of Josh Gibson, who was playing with the Homestead Grays Credit: Wikipedia

Josh Gibson, the Negro League’s “Home Run King,” was born in Buena Vista, Georgia. 

When the family’s farm suffered, they moved to Pittsburgh, and Gibson tried baseball at age 16. He eventually played for a semi-pro team in Pittsburgh and became known for his towering home runs. 

He was watching the Homestead Grays play on July 25, 1930, when the catcher injured his hand. Team members called for Gibson, sitting in the stands, to join them. He was such a talented catcher that base runners were more reluctant to steal. He hit the baseball so hard and so far (580 feet once at Yankee Stadium) that he became the second-highest paid player in the Negro Leagues behind Satchel Paige, with both of them entering the National Baseball Hame of Fame. 

The Hall estimated that Gibson hit nearly 800 homers in his 17-year career and had a lifetime batting average of .359. Gibson was portrayed in the 1996 TV movie, “Soul of the Game,” by Mykelti Williamson. Blair Underwood played Jackie Robinson, Delroy Lindo portrayed Satchel Paige, and Harvey Williams played “Cat” Mays, the father of the legendary Willie Mays. 

Gibson has now been honored with a statue outside the Washington Nationals’ ballpark.

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

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