Legislative Update 64

January 15, 2010

Dear Friend,

Time to Work Together

With state revenues hovering nearly $350 million below original estimates and no prospects for revenue growth in the short term, the House, Senate, and Governor’s office must come together quickly in order to make timely budget adjustments.

Historically, Mississippi has dealt with financial difficulties in one of two ways, by either raising taxes or making cuts. This is no time to raise taxes. The downturn in the economy has been brutal on Mississippi families and small businesses. Increasing taxes now would only serve to weaken our economic outlook. I believe the only viable option at this time, is to make reasonable reductions to our state budget. While no one likes the idea of cutting funds to important agencies, we have to be realistic about our financial situation.

As many of you know, the Governor has requested additional authority to make budget cuts. Specifically, the Governor has requested that he be permitted to make cuts up to 10% of general fund budgets and state supported funds. The Governor’s budget cutting authority is currently capped at 5%.

I have been reluctant to agree to the Governor’s request to increase his authority to 10% without first knowing how he plans to use this authority. On Wednesday night, following the Senate’s vote to allow this change, the Governor provided a copy of his proposed cuts to members of the House. Having reviewed the Governor’s proposed cuts, I have decided to support the Governor’s request for additional authority. Because this is an extraordinary circumstance, I do not believe this authority should be made permanent. For that reason, I plan to support a time limit similar to the one approved by the Senate.

This is just one of many difficult budget decisions that will have to be made during this session. While none of the budget options we’ve considered have been particularly good, I believe both chambers of the legislature and the Governor must act quickly to allow departments and agencies time to adjust to the changes and prepare for the future.

Elvis, the Legislative Fitness Program, and Jackson’s Water Shortage

On Tuesday, representatives from Tupelo joined us at the Capitol to celebrate Elvis Presley’s 75th birthday. We marked the occasion with grilled peanut butter and banana sandwiches and birthday cake. During the celebration, Representative Hank Zuber (Ocean Springs) and I had a chance to talk to one of Elvis’ cousins who told us that the King attended the 2nd grade in Pascagoula while his dad worked at the shipyard. If that’s not cause for an historic marker, I don’t know what is.

This week, I also joined several of my colleagues from the House, Senate, and Governor’s office at the Millsaps College athletic complex to begin our Fit 4 Change fitness program with Paul Lacoste Sports. I am pleased to report that the early mornings and hard work have already paid off as I lost 4 lbs. in three days.

Damaged water pipes in Jackson left us without water for most of the week. While the city worked to restore the pipes, portable facilities were placed on the Capitol grounds and many businesses throughout Jackson were closed. House and Senate leaders ultimately decided to cut the week short and we were sent home after a brief Thursday morning session.

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.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve,

Brandon