Legislative Update 59

September 16, 2009

Dear Friends,

I hope you all had a safe and enjoyable summer. I also hope that those of you with school age children and grandchildren are having a peaceable transition into the school year.

Those of us who live in Jackson County are blessed to have access to high quality schools and motivated teachers. Unfortunately, even students and parents in the best school districts must deal with stress on a regular basis. As I speak to students, teachers, and parents, I hear more and more about the heavy burden of keeping pace with today's fast moving curriculum. That's why I have been pleased to meet Teresa Little, the Director of the Sylvan Learning Center and learn more about what their Center has to offer.

I encourage parents and grandparents who are having difficulty developing homework and study strategies to contact the Sylvan Learning Center at 497-2343. Sylvan is able to provide assessments of your child's academic development and devise programs intended to make homework time less of a nightmare. Regardless of whether your child is excelling in school or having difficulty with certain classes, I encourage you to take advantage of this important resource. I have also been pleased to learn that Sylvan will work with families to make sure that their services fit into any budget.

2010 Legislative Session

Over the next several weeks, I will be researching issues and drafting bills for the upcoming legislative session which begins in January of 2010. I invite you to contact me with issues and bill ideas that are important to you. Your input is very valuable to me.

I also wanted to share with you bills that I introduced or co-sponsored in 2009 that I plan to introduce during the next session. While these bills are likely to undergo further revisions, the current form will you give you a good idea of their intended purpose:

  • House Bill 389: Bicyclist Safety Bill (passed the House in 2009). You can read last year's version here.
  • House Bill 1079: Bill would require individuals who intentionally spread sexually transmitted diseases to register as sex offenders (passed the House in 2009). You can read last year's version here.
  • House Bill 194: Bill would authorize an income tax credit for costs and purchase and installation of wind energy systems/solar energy systems (passed the House in 2009). You can read last year's version here.
  • House Bill 315: Bill would exempt solar energy systems attached to owner occupied residential buildings and swimming pools from ad valorem taxes. You can read last year's version here.
  • House Bill 206: Bill would increase the amount of homestead exemption for people who are 65 and older. You can read last year's version here.

In addition to these bills, I intend to introduce legislation dealing with homeowners insurance, increased funding of the state Wind Pool, cyber crime, protection from identity theft, voter reform, and the Governor's pardon power.

Insurance Commissioner Denies Rate Hike

Last week, Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney informed State Farm that its request to increase homeowners' rates by 45 percent in three Coastal counties has been denied. State Farm was granted a 13.6 percent increase in 2008. In statements last week, Commissioner Chaney said that it was too soon for State Farm to increase rates again and that he was discouraged by State Farm's unwillingness to write new business if the increase was allowed.

I applaud Commissioner Chaney for his decision. Insurance affordability and availability continue to be among the biggest issues facing Coastal residents. Allowing any private company to charge its policyholders 45 percent more in this economic climate would be the wrong decision.

Shrimp Boil a Success

I want to thank the more than 150 of you who turned out for my shrimp boil in honor of Jackson County businesses and business leaders. I especially want to thank Pastor Jay Cook of First Baptist Church of Pascagoula for offering the blessing and Gary Anglin for playing his song “My Mississippi Home”.

The purpose of this event was to say thanks to those of you who have continued to serve our local community by offering your goods and services in these hard economic times. We are very fortunate to have a fantastic array of large and small businesses here in Jackson County.

Watch Me on Channel 7 Tonight and Next Wednesday

Yesterday, I sat down with Doug Mansfield at WKFK Channel 7 to discuss the 2009 legislative session and my goals for the upcoming session. Doug's program "Spotlight on Jackson County" will air tonight at 5:30 and again at 11:00. Since we couldn't get to all of our material in one segment, we also recorded a segment for next week's show which will air at 5:30 and 11:00 next Wednesday.

How to Contact Me

As always, I invite you to call me on my cell phone at 228-326-7649 or e-mail me at bjones@house.ms.gov. For real time updates, you can also follow me on Twitter under the user name “brandoncjones”. If you haven’t heard of Twitter, you can check out my page at http://twitter.com/brandoncjones or by following the link on my website. Please feel free to forward this report to folks in our district and let me know if I need to add someone to my list.

I will also be posting my updates and House related news on my campaign website at www.electbrandonjones.com.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve.

Brandon