Jackson Free Press

Legislative committees worked furiously this week during the run-up to the Feb. 19 deadline for House and Senate committees to act on general bills and constitutional amendments originating in their own chamber. Committees are also entertaining briefings regarding state issues.

'Face-to-Face' a Failure?
On Monday, the House Medicaid Committee heard arguments regarding the flaws of the state's "face-to-face" policy on Medicaid, a pet project of Gov. Haley Barbour.

Officials from the Governor's Division of Medicaid, led by Medicaid Director Robert Robinson, claimed "face to face," which requires beneficiaries to re-affirm their eligibility in person, has saved the state millions of dollars.

Critics, such as Mississippi Center for Justice attorney Jason Pollan, claim many Medicaid clients—including untold numbers of children—have been dropped from the rolls, and that the division is pointedly making "face-to-face" more difficult for beneficiaries.

"Robinson tried to claim that Medicaid had one or more sites in 80 of the 82 counties of the state to process applications, 30 regional offices and 90 outstation sites where Medicaid workers can conduct interviews … The 30 regional offices are true, but the 90 outstation offices (are) not true. Their own Web site shows no existence of this 90 number, and personal tours of each county shows no evidence of these 90 outstations," Pollan said.

Pollan said that only four of the 64 outstations he personally visited even had a sign identifying them.

"I'm not talking about a big sign on the street. Two of the four with signs had a sign about four times the size of a business card that said, "Sign in here for Medicaid appointments."

Those same offices were often open only a handful of hours every month, Pollan added.

Eminent Domain Still an Issue
The House passed HB 591 last week, which restricts eminent domain to direct public use. The bill is a leftover from the state's 2001 battle with landowners in its attempt to secure land on behalf of the Nissan plant.

When the state first grabbed an agreement from Nissan to build the Canton automobile manufacturing plant, it agreed to acquire more than 1,500 acres the company wanted, using the state government's power of eminent domain, if necessary, to move out disagreeable homeowners.

Canton resident Lonzo Archie complained in 2001 that the state shouldn't have the right to grab land for use by corporations or businesses like Nissan, and a flurry of out-of-state attorneys flew into the state that year to agree with him.

To this day, the issue apparently nags at some legislators who fear for homeowners' rights. HB 591 clarifies that the state can muscle out somebody only for state government projects, not for corporations like Nissan—no matter how much they benefit the state.

More Moolah for Me
The House Fees and Salaries Committee approved a bill not likely to curry favor with voters this year. HB 859 increases the salaries of legislators, and state and county elected officials, from Sheriff Malcolm McMillin to Gov. Haley Barbour.

The bill presumably would cost the state more than $4 million, during a year when the state budget is already groaning under deficits.

Legislators currently earn $10,000 during a regular session and $1,500 per month out of session, along with fees for special sessions and travel. The bill would increase that $10,000 salary to $15,000 and increase legislators' out-of-session pay from $1,500 a month to $2,500.

The bill will need to get past the House Appropriations Committee before the rest of the House gets a whack at it. With the Mississippi Division of Medicaid running an $86 million deficit for the current fiscal year and a projected deficit of almost $170 million for 2009, the bill will likely gather serious debate if it survives Appropriations.

Employee Rights on the Block
On Monday, the Senate passed a bill that would remove state Personnel Board oversight from the jobs of more than 25,000 state employees. Senate Bill 2680, which allows state agency heads to hire and fire at will without repercussions from the personnel board for one year, passed the Senate by only six votes.

Sen. David Baria, D-Bay St. Louis, who opposed the bill, warned that it was setting the state up for more lawsuits.

"Take away the filter of the State Personnel Board and anybody aggrieved will go straight to court, which will be more expensive for any litigant, including the state of Mississippi," Baria said.

Gov. Haley Barbour said that he overwhelmingly supports the bill, however.

"To me, it is not acceptable that ... the people elected in November come in and then are told: 'Here's how many employees you can have, here's what they're going to make, and here's what they're going to do," Barbour told The Clarion-Ledger.

AFL-CIO President Robert Shaffer said Barbour has been pushing for the bill for years.

"Hell, Barbour's been trying to get that bill signed every year. This year, I imagine he's going to try to blame it on the tight budget, or something like that, but it's usually met problems in the House," Shaffer said.

It could meet problems in the House this year, too. The House is still dominated by Democrats who are fairly keen on employee-rights issues, and by a House speaker who vocally supported worker's rights during his four-year tenure.

The AFL-CIO and other unions will be holding a press conference on SB 2680 and others next week.

Previous Comments

ID

68258

Comment

I always felt that the face-to-face Medicaid thing would be a problem. Even if all the offices were open like they should be, you still have the issue of single moms missing wok and children missing school for these appointments. Them getting time off just to go to the doctor is already a challenge. This just adds fuel to the fire.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-02-14T20:27:21-06:00

ID

68259

Comment

On Monday, the Senate passed a bill that would remove state Personnel Board oversight from the jobs of more than 25,000 state employees. Senate Bill 2680, which allows state agency heads to hire and fire at will without repercussions from the personnel board for one year, passed the Senate by only six votes. I would love to give an example of why this is such a bad idea, but I don't want to reveal more than I want people to know.

Author

LatashaWillis

Date

2008-02-14T20:30:35-06:00

ID

68260

Comment

Officials from the Governor’s Division of Medicaid, led by Medicaid Director Robert Robinson, claimed “face to face,” which requires beneficiaries to re-affirm their eligibility in person, has saved the state millions of dollars. Critics, such as Mississippi Center for Justice attorney Jason Pollan, claim many Medicaid clients—including untold numbers of children—have been dropped from the rolls, and that the division is pointedly making “face-to-face” more difficult for beneficiaries. This reminds me of Clinton's Welfare Reform in the '90s. Where tons of people "dropped from the rolls" and everyone thought it was GREAT. But, WHERE do these people go? Its not like several tens of thousands of them "all of a sudden" decided they no longer needed the services. Just like that, "saving" money on Medicaid rolls isn't really "saving us money". We are paying for it in un-insured and under-insured CHILDREN. It amazes me what these people come up with to "save money". Any social worker in this state can tell you that transportation is the largest barrier we have to getting people services in this state. In fact, its such an issue that transportation services are almost built in to ALL of the services my agency provides. It makes total sense that lawmakers who want to reduce the number of poor people served would take the largest barrier to that service and make it the number one requirement.

Author

Lori G

Date

2008-02-15T09:46:16-06:00