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STATE
Lt. Gov. Hosemann Addresses Budget Cuts, Teacher Pay, and Patriotic Education
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December 23, 2020 - January 5, 2021 • jfp.ms
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Economic Downturn Ahead Hosemann’s top priority in the 2020 session was a teacher pay raise above the tepid increase that came the year before. During COVID-19, legislators killed that bill in the last stages of approval, and the budget for the coming year is lacking in any additional compensation for the state’s public school teachers. But the lieutenant governor says he is committed to accomplishing that goal even under coronavirus in 2021. “It will be one of the first bills that we do this year. We talk a lot about critical infrastructure. To me, education is critical infrastructure. It will be dealt with as such,” Hosemann told the Jackson Free Press. The Joint Legislative Budget Committee released its budget recommendation for fiscal-year 2022 on Dec. 7. The plan includes just over $197.3 million in cuts to the state budget for a total of 3.13% less than the previous year. Teacher incentive pay is also missing, a difficult metric in a year with more disrupted school semesters than any in living memory. Looming over the budget itself is the threat of continuing economic depression from the virus. Though the
brief period of mandatory lockdowns at the pandemic’s inception are now a distant memory, voluntary isolation continues to threaten revenues. Hosemann told the Jackson Free Press that the ongoing economic danger of COVID-19 is factored into the budget recommendation and not just the damage it has already done. “I have significant concerns about the first quarter of next year,” the Senate leader said. “The unemployment compensation is running out. ... When
and rural areas. Investment in OBGYN services at Mississippi’s FQHCs is one way to address the state’s grave infantmortality problems. Racial disparity is part of Mississippi’s struggles with natal complications. Legislative Black Caucus Chairwoman Sen. Angela Turner-Ford, D-West Point, warned in February that “Black women in Mississippi are three times more likely to die from complications related to childbirth. This is a travesty. And we want to do something about it.”
elimination of both of the remaining brackets by 2030. That suggestion quickly found support from House Speaker Philip Gunn, R-Clinton, long a proponent of doing away with income tax in the state. “We have been trying to find ways to develop a more solid, fairer tax structure,” Gunn said earlier in the month. But the proposal faces a rockier climb in the Senate, with Lt. Gov. Hosemann throwing cold water on the proposal out of concern for state revenues. courtesy Delbert Hosemann
ith COVID-19 rampaging through the Magnolia State, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann would like to see a late start to the 2021 session. “You know, we qualify as a super-spreader event,” he told the Jackson Free Press in a Dec. 14 interview, recalling the legislative outbreak earlier in 2020. Hosemann had a map of Mississippi in mind. The senators and representatives that come to gather in the Capitol chambers in Jackson dot the state, a grimly perfect geographical distribution of the virus, were another outbreak to occur among legislators. “We can do the people’s business when we have more people vaccinated. That will be a safer environment for them to go home from,” Hosemann said. But when the session kicks off in earnest, legislators must find a way to accomplish long-sought funding improvements against a backdrop of pandemicdriven economic decline.
by Nick Judin
In an interview, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann expressed little interest in Gov. Tate Reeves’ plan for a total end to income tax—instead, the Senate leader said he wants a renewed push for teacher pay.
I checked on this in September we had spent $3.1 billion in employment compensation for Mississippi residents.” Medicaid expansion may not be an immediate target for the 2021 session, but Hosemann said legislators will have an extensive discussion of public-health challenges that expand beyond COVID-19. “We’re looking at funding OBGYNs in (federally qualified health centers). We did the bill last year, but COVID got the money,” Hosemann explained. FQHCs are community clinics intended to serve patients regardless of their ability to pay, often in underserved
Lt. Gov. Hosemann sees better funding for childbirth services as a positive for every Mississippian. “We have serious problems with infant mortality across the spectrum. FQHCs are open to everyone, no matter what your economic status is,” he said. An End To State Income Tax? One month ago, Gov. Tate Reeves released his state budget proposal from quarantine, outlining his priorities for the coming legislative session. Most notably, Reeves called for an end to income tax in Mississippi, proposing a staggered
The Jackson Free Press asked Hosemann if he supported the total phaseout plan and how he expected to fill the $1.8-billion hole in the state budget it would leave behind. “Your second question answers the first question. I don’t know that you need another statement from me,” Hosemann said. “It’s a 2-billion-dollar question. I am open to any solution to that. But, until we have a solution … it’s not ‘Field of Dreams.’ I don’t print money. We have to have enough funds to pay for highway patrol, education, all the other things we pay for as a state.”
