Jackson Free Press

Shorter Session
One of the first moves the Legislature made this year was to cut its hours.

Lt. Gov. Phil Bryant proclaimed during his campaign last year that shortening the session would save taxpayers thousands of dollars and said he would suggest the session be shortened. He followed through with his promise and submitted Senate resolution 502, which would cut the session down from 120 days to 104 days.

The House agreed with him last week—at least in part—passing an altered Senate resolution with a 112-to-8 vote. The House alteration shortens the session by one additional day, down to 103, but the House and Senate must hash out identical bills—either with a quick Senate agreement on the House alteration or in a joint conference—if the shortened session is to become a reality.

House members say they prefer to throw the resolution into a conference committee so both houses could have time to agree on the multitude of new deadlines that come with the shortened session.

Bryant has said a shortened session will save taxpayers about $500,000.

Compretta's Pay
Rep. J.P. Compretta, D-Bay St. Louis, said he will no longer take the extra $3,300 monthly pay increase he's been getting. Compretta, the House speaker pro tempore, has been getting the extra cash since 2004, when Speaker Bill McCoy suffered a stroke. The House Management Committee allotted Compretta the extra money for filling in for McCoy while the speaker was incapacitated, claiming Compretta was instrumental in wrangling bureaucratic hold-ups after Hurricane Katrina and pushing many hurricane-related bills. McCoy returned to work in 2005, but the money kept coming, said Rep. Rita Martinson, R-Madison, who raised a fuss over the extra funds upon McCoy's return.

Martinson claims Compretta owes the state more than $144,000 because McCoy has been back at work for a majority of the time Compretta has been receiving extra pay.

McCoy, still visibly weakened and displaying a speech disability four years after the stroke, had no comment to the Jackson Free Press on Compretta's pay.

Guns, Guns, Guns!
Need a quick-access, high-powered rifle to take down some nutcase rampaging through downtown Jackson? There may be one in your local legislator's truck window. House members voted 65-53 to abolish a ban on representatives and senators stowing weapons in their vehicles while parked on the Capitol parking lot.

The Senate still has to approve the rule change, but if they do, a packed rifle rack on the back windshield could be a regular sight at the Capitol. The rule change, should senators go along with it, still wouldn't allow Rep. Steve Holland, D-Plantersville, to fire at the feet of Rep. Bill Denny, R-Jackson—at least not legally. Weapons still would not be allowed inside the Capitol itself.

Rep. John Mayo, D-Clarksdale, though not a hunter, said he could see the convenience of a legislator wanting to head for his favorite hunting grounds without having to make a long trip back to his home before heading out.

Rep. Sidney Bondurant, D-Grenada, told The Clarion-Ledger that he suspected some legislators were already packing, and said dissolving the ban would keep these legislators legal.

Committee Assignments
Republicans fought hard on Friday to change House rules regarding bill extrication. Immediately after that rule amendment failed, the JFP found out why.

Republican members wanted to change the rules so that 50 percent of House members, plus 1, could effectively yank a bill out of any committee determined to kill it. Republicans said the rule change would be a step toward real democracy and that the current rule requiring a two-thirds vote to pull a bill hadn't been around that long anyhow.

It seems Republicans had a good reason for wanting the change. Speaker McCoy went for broke and named no Republican committee chairs this year—possibly a reaction to every Republican vowing to depose him as House speaker earlier this year.

McCoy denied that his slanted chairman picks had anything to do with vengeance.

"It was about selecting the best chairmen to move the House ahead," McCoy told the JFP.

Republicans predict a rough year rife with power plays and stress as House conservatives and progressives jostle for power. Unlike the Senate, which is largely dominated by a Republican agenda, the House is still trying to find itself, with a potential majority on both sides vying for power.