Jackson Free Press

On March 23, in the middle of a budget stand-off, House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, warned that the state budget will have some holes that will hurt Mississippians if the Senate refuses to work with the House to raise some form of revenue.

"Today we can no longer hide. There's no big tree we can get under," McCoy told the press. "People are about to lose jobs."

"We have three choices," said Cecil Brown, D-Hinds. "Raise revenue and try to fill some holes, cut budgets or we can do some combination, and the House has opted for the last. We've tried to raise revenue from reasonable sources, such as government fees and tobacco tax, which 80 percent of the people of Mississippi supports. …We want a balanced budget as much as the next guy, but we're not willing to cut basic services."

Services to be cut could include education and law enforcement, affecting about 6,000 jobs, according to a statement released by House Appropriations Chairman Johnny Stringer, D-Montrose. McCoy called those numbers "a conservative estimate."

"We really expected some cooperation on these revenue increases," McCoy said about about the Senate's refusal to raise a single fee. The House has proposed a cigarette tax raising the fee to 68 cents a pack. Mississippi's current cigarette tax is 18 cents—one of the lowest for a state that does not grow tobacco.

Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck criticized the public appeal, asking if the Mississippi Legislature has reached the point where it had to communicate across houses through resolutions.

Senate Finance Committee Chairman Tommy Robertson, R-Moss Point, did not return calls to the JFP, but told reporters after the press conference that the Senate was staunchly opposed to raising revenues and that it was prepared to "live within its means."

Because the Senate has refused to consider raising any tax or fee, Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, said the House is hardening its fists and locking down its own hatches.

"What I'm hearing on the House floor is that they're not ready to make these cuts until the Senate takes action on some revenue measure. They don't think its fair because we've already gone into the tobacco trust fund for $240 million for savings and then cut deeper than cuts have ever been," Watson said.

Though gridlock is commonplace in the Legislature, McCoy said he'd never seen such cross-party animosity in his career. "We're very polarized by political parties, and this state is not big enough for this," McCoy said. "This state is just like a family, and a family could not be successful if every time one spouse or child has an idea the others pounce on it simply because of who they are.

The state is looking at a $500 million deficit, with Medicaid virtually sitting on a wire. As we go to press, Barbour is refusing to fully fund the Mississippi Adequate Education Program, and the House is holding out for full funding. The legislative conferees filed "dummy" budget bills on the March 26 deadline with fake numbers in order to allow negotiators more time. The session is supposed to end Sunday, April 2, but may be extended over the budget impasse.