Legislative Update 66

January 31, 2010

Dear Friend,

The state budget continues to hold center stage in Jackson as revenues dwindle and cuts persist. On Friday, January 25, as many state lawmakers were on their way home for the weekend, Governor Barbour announced another round of reductions including $66 million in cuts to K-12 education. With over $437 million in cuts by the Governor during the current fiscal year, legislators spent much of the early part of last week meeting with state agencies and local officials to gauge the damage and plan a way forward.

In an effort to restore $60 million of the nearly $270 million in cuts to all three levels of education and stop the bleeding for our judges, district attorneys, mental health programs, and Highway Patrol officers, the House passed a measure that would move $50 million from the tobacco settlement account and $50 million from the “Rainy Day” fund to address these important areas. This maneuver would leave over $300 million in our state’s reserve funds for future downturns.

Adding more fireworks to an already tense budget moment, the Mississippi Supreme Court, on Friday, ruled that the Governor does not have the authority to cut funding to the Judicial Branch because it is a “separate, coequal branch of government”.

While I agree with the Governor that we must try to maintain our reserve funds in anticipation of future hard times, I cannot justify watching education, law enforcement, and mental health services languish while we have money in the bank. The analogy I used from House floor was that you treat an infected arm with antibiotics before turning to amputation. In the same way, we owe Mississippi’s students and families every remedial effort before we slash services and jobs out of existence.

Domestic Violence Bills Move Toward Final Passage

Wednesday’s press conference to mark National Stalking Awareness Month drew support from the Lieutenant Governor, Attorney General, and legislators from both the House and Senate. It was very gratifying to see state leaders of all stripes join together to address stalking in particular and domestic violence in general. Thankfully, it wasn’t all talk. Later that afternoon, my bill to prevent insurance companies from denying coverage to a person on the basis that they have been a victim of domestic violence passed the full House Insurance Committee. This Tuesday, the House Judiciary B Committee is scheduled to take up a bill I authored that would strengthen our state’s stalking laws.

Tuesday is Committee Deadline

Tuesday, February 2, marks the deadline for our committees to either approve or reject the hundreds of bills that have been proposed. Next weekend I’ll provide a progress report for the bills I have authored this year.

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. You can follow legislative proceedings by going to www.ls.state.ms.us.

Thank you for the opportunity to serve,

Brandon