Legislative Update 10

March 23, 2008

Dear Friends,

I hope that you and your families have had an enjoyable Holy Week and happy Easter. The House took Good Friday off giving members and staff an opportunity to spend more time at home this weekend. It was a welcome break before the flurry of activity that will accompany the closing weeks of the session. 

REPORT FOR THE WEEK ENDING MARCH 20, 2008

Policyholder’s Bill of Rights Dies in Committee

Tuesday was the deadline for committee action on the Insurance Policyholder's Bill of Rights or House Bill 498 and the Senate Insurance Committee chairman allowed it to die via "pocket veto."

As a result, the Legislature has allowed another year to pass without taking measures to reform the way insurance claims are handled following a catastrophic event like Hurricane Katrina.

The House version of the bill, which was a drastically stripped down version of the original bill, would have placed the all-important burden of proof on insurance companies in "slab" cases. While the bill would not completely address the issues related to payment of insurance claims, it would have been a step in the right direction.

Thousands of Mississippians are still struggling to resolve their Katrina-related insurance claims. With each year that passes, the likelihood of implementing meaningful insurance reform becomes more remote. Like many other members of the Gulf Coast legislative delegation, I am deeply disappointed by the Legislature's inability to address this important issue.

I would encourage each of you to closely monitor the progress of future insurance reform bills and contact members of the House and Senate Insurance Committees when these bills are up for consideration. Your voice is an important one and may ultimately make the difference in delivering meaningful insurance reform to our state.

Maritime & Seafood Industry Museum Restoration Project

A couple weeks ago, members of the Gulf Coast delegation met with representatives from the Maritime and Seafood Industry Museum to discuss their plans and financial needs. As some of you know, the Museum was established in 1986 to preserve the maritime history and heritage of the Gulf Coast.

The Museum has secured the help of a nationally renowned firm to help with the design and planning of the new museum and their work has been impressive. If the Museum is successful in securing adequate funding, we will have a great family destination in Biloxi.

Among the major attractions under development are a Coast Guard Memorial, an “Into the Storm” Experience exhibit that is being designed by the folks at Universal Studios, a Tullis Mansion Memorial, Hurricane Memorial and an IMAX and Performing Arts Theatre.

The Museum provided us with booklets detailing their plans and I’ll be happy to share this information with anyone who is interested in taking a look.

Governor Barbour signs SB 2988

This week, the Governor signed the immigration bill I mentioned in a previous post. Upon signing the bill, Governor Barbour released a statement detailing some of his concerns with the Senate’s plan. As I mentioned before, this bill is not perfect and will require some fine tuning. I will keep you updated as our work continues on this important legislation.

Floor Action

We completed committee work last week on bills that originated in the Senate. In the week ahead, we will complete floor work on those bills. Less than two weeks later, we will be putting the finishing touches on our FY 2009 budget and completing work on all bills. The session is scheduled to conclude on April 19.

Some of the Senate bills we passed this week include:

  • SB 2793 would establish an alternative method of cost recovery for utility companies – basically a pay-as-you-go plan to add new power generation units. A House amendment to the bill would create a Select Committee on Cost Recovery of Base Load Generation, which would develop proposed legislation for electric generating facilities that may have base-load-serving characteristics.  The select committee would report its findings and recommendations by Dec. 1, 2008. Entergy Inc. is said to be studying the possibility of adding a second nuclear plant at its Grand Gulf site in Claiborne County. Another lignite coal plant is also under consideration.
  • SB 2913 would enhance the “troops to teachers” program, using federal funds to recruit veterans who want to start a second career in the classroom. Another bill, SB 2518, would establish the “Teach for America” program in the Mississippi Delta region.
  • SB 2149 would set up a plan for eliminating elected or appointed school superintendents who serve in districts that perform poorly for two straight years. A task force to study and report on the status of underperforming schools and school districts in Mississippi will also be created. The bill was amended in the House to provide that an elected superintendent forced from office must sit out at least one full term before becoming eligible to seek the office of superintendent again. This is an effort to ensure accountability among the school districts.
  • SB 2652 encourages school districts to ensure that children whose families receive TANF benefits remain in school. Districts that don’t enforce the regulations could lose some state funds.
  • SB 2642 authorizes the state to contract with more counties to build regional prisons.
  • SB 2619 creates a task force to study the preservation of DNA evidence for court cases.
  • SB 2246 encourages the creation of more drug courts in counties around the state.
  • SB 2605 would require any person or company providing mortgages to utilize the multi-state licensing system for application, renewal and surrender of licenses and any other activity the state may require. It also allows issuance of the loans from any location in the state, and does not require registration of manufactured housing operations that issue 12 or less mortgage loans during a year’s time.
  • SB 3007 encourages “green building” standards for state owned facilities. A state agency will adopt rules that: optimize the energy performance of state-funded buildings; increase the demand for building and construction materials, finishes, furnishings and other products produced in Mississippi; improve environmental quality by decreasing the discharge of pollutants; conserve energy and utilize local and renewable energy sources; protect and restore this state's natural resources by avoiding development of inappropriate state-funded building sites; reduce the burden on public water supply and treatment by reducing potable water consumption; and encourage obtaining ENERGY STAR designation from the federal EPA to further demonstrate a building project's energy independence.
  • SB 2264 would authorize monitoring (such as wiretaps) of cell phones outside the state for investigations of criminal activity when probable cause exists. The bill was amended to give the state attorney general the authority to use wiretaps, as is the case in other states.
  • SB 2712 would add five years to a sentence for home burglaries and assaults under an act entitled “Miss Breland’s Law.” The extra penalty extends to such offenses as identity theft and forgery.
  • SB 2497 would increase the maximum weekly compensation for jobless benefits to $244 on July 1 and would allow for annual adjustments based on the Social Security automatic cost of living adjustment (COLA) as determined by the increase in the Consumer Price Index.

Strike-all Amendments

Late last week, we were also considering numerous general bills that originated in the Senate. On many of them, the House completed what is known as a “strike-all amendment” in which we inserted into the Senate bill the language of a similar House bill that we had already passed. For example, we did this on SB 2405, which would create a task force on underperforming schools and districts. The House added a teacher to the task force appointed by the state superintendent of schools and we added a review of Level 5 schools and school districts.

In most cases, the language in the House and Senate bills will have only slight differences (some as subtle as the effective date) and will be negotiated in “conference” later between three members of both chambers. An example of that situation is SB 2176 which increases annual experience salary increments for teachers from 25 years to 35 years. That’s the way the House passed SB 2176. The Senate’s original version upped the increments to 30 years, so we’ll work out the differences in conference. Also, the Senate version had no pay raise for teachers; the House added a 3-percent pay raise in SB 2176.

We also did a strike-all on SB 2416 which requires local school board members in districts with one or more underperforming schools, as determined by the State Board of Education, to annually complete a 6-hour course entitled “Improving Student Outcomes and Academic Success.”

Cpl. Robert Taylor McDavid, III

Those of us in the legislature were saddened to learn of the death of Cpl. Robert Taylor McDavid, III, a Starkville native who died along with four other soldiers as a result of a suicide bombing in Iraq. Authorities said the March 10 attack, which injured three other soldiers and an Iraqi interpreter, occurred as they chatted with shop owners while on patrol in central Baghdad. It was the deadliest attack on American forces in the Iraqi capital in more than eight months.

House Webcasting

Don’t forget that you can follow floor debates by going to www.mpbonline.org and clicking on “House video.”

How to Contact Me

If you have any questions or concerns, I invite you to call me on my cell phone at 228-326-7649 or e-mail me at bjones@house.ms.gov. 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