Jackson Free Press

After spending eight days in special session, costing taxpayers a total of $41,162 so far (see below), the Mississippi House of Representatives went home Friday, saying they will return next Tuesday and start over on tort-reform legislation after the Senate and governor ceremoniously rejected their plan, saying it was "flawed" and "halfway tort reform." House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, spoke forcefully on the floor of the House late Thursday afternoon, saying that civil justice reform is "one of the most delicate subjects that exist in American democracy, but, in the end, this House spoke." The Senate should have let the democratic system proceed, he said: "I conferred with the governor and assured him that this House would pass any measure brought by and referred by conferees. ... That was the best we could do. They did not believe that; I regret that very much. They were wrong. ... They made a mistake; they have wasted the people's money."

So far in the special session, the House has offered several versions of tort reform that contains provisions desired by business, but not the most extreme reform as it affects consumers: non-economic caps. On Thursday, the House voted 60-59 to send their bill without damage caps to a conference committee, weakening the Senate's argument that "most House members want damage caps."

Yesterday, Gov. Haley Barbour, who called the session, along with the Senate, refused to consider the House's preferred tort-reform bill because it did not contain non-economic damage caps for general liability, calling the omission of their reform priority a "flaw" because the House could reject any bill that came out of conference with damage caps added in.

"If one person in the House has the opportunity to object to an eventual agreement on the current bill and kill it, there is no need to be here. However, if all of the tort reform provisions are addressed in conference, there is still a chance to salvage tort reform in this Special Session," Barbour said in a statement Thursday.

The governor and the Senate have taken a no-compromise stance, saying they will only consider new tort reform legislation that limits the non-economic damages liability of both medical practitioners and general liability to low amounts. "Mississippians deserve all aspects of tort reform to be considered," Barbour said. "There is no point in having discussions if everything is not on the table."

McCoy responded to criticism by tort-reformers and the media that the House has moved too slowly on adopting Barbour's caps proposal, which many seem to believe should be adopted with little or no debate or compromise. "This should move slow," he told the chamber, sounding a bit like a preacher in his pulpit. "We're talking the civil justice and civil rights of people of the United States." He added, "It is not the fault of the Mississippi House of Representatives that we are stymied." McCoy added that the Legislature could have passed "meaningful tort reform" by that point if the Senate and the governor were willing to sit down and hammer a compromise. "It takes two sides to do work," he told reporters after the session.

To reporters, McCoy had even harsher words for the governor, implying that Barbour was more interested in playing divisive politics than passing meaningful reform. "Somebody is going to realize that this is about more than tort reform," he said. "This is a political body." McCoy said he had been in the chamber for 25 years and that it's "unprecedented" that the other side reject a bill offered for conference; the Senate's suggestion is that the House's language isn't good enough to even be discussed—thus denying the House of Representatives the chance to present their vision.

"That's none of their business," he said, adding, "They've begun to interpret what we'll do. ... The House is not theirs to decide what we'll accept or not accept."

McCoy got angrier when asked what he thought of remarks on the Senate floor regarding the Senate bill 2001 that has been sent to the House. "I don't respond to anything they've got to say. ... The Senate does not speak for the House. They made the mistake of trying to speak for us. ... This is a terrible thing to do to the citizens of Mississippi. It's a terrible thing to do to call a special session, get down to conference and then refuse to confer. ... It's a terrible exercise in mistrust."

The special session is technically costing $34,000 a day, but because legislators lost their May stipend of $1,500 in out-of-session expenses by being in session through Thursday, taxpayers saved $261,000. Under state law, legislators are due that stipend if they're not in session at least half the month. Although a boon to taxpayers, the loss came as a blow to less well-to-do lawmakers, many of whom rely on that income to get by.