Mississippi State of the Union
the Al & Dee Real Estate Group at RE/MAX by the Gulf 

    

Mississippi Legislative Update  - Hank Zuber, Mississippi State Legislator always keep us posted on new happenings with our Mississippi government affairs. Here is his latest update.

•  Twin Creeks Technologies, a venture-backed solar technology company, is locating a solar panel manufacturing facility in Senatobia, Miss.  The production facility will create 512 jobs, in two phases, over the next five years and represents a company investment of more than $175 million. This facility will be the first renewable solar technology production plant in the state. Twin Creeks was the first major economic development project to utilize Mississippi’s new clean energy incentives program, which will hopefully open the door for new job opportunities in the clean energy sector for all Mississippians.
Gov. Barbour announced this week while he was on the Gulf Coast that a Montreal-based company named Enerkem is planning a $250 million municipal waste-to-ethanol plant in Pontotoc.
Although Mississippi is experiencing a general decline in state revenue and consequently having to make some tough budget decisions, Mississippi is much better off financially than most other states. You may be asking yourself how we are able to attract these new state of the art manufacturers during these times and when we are in competition with other states and countries. One reason is that capital (job creation) will flow to the location where it can get the greatest rate of return (lowest tax structure). In MS, we have one of the lowest tax burdens in the country.
Concerning the budget, there is an agreement the FY 2011 general fund has been set at $5,496,403,758.00.  This amount includes Federal stimulus monies, “rainy day” reserves, and other one-time funding sources. However, as I have tried to warn everyone for about two years now, this budget contains roughly $400 million in one-time Federal stimulus monies which will not be available next year.   Some good news is that there will be an additional $187 million for Medicaid. However, at this time, we do not know when this amount will come down from DC. On March revenue coming in, corporate tax collections were $30 million, or 22.8 percent, above the estimate, while gaming revenues were $3.2 million or 20.4 percent over the estimate. Of extreme concern, Sales taxes and individual income taxes continued below the estimate for March. Year-to-date, we are $216.9 million, or 6.5 percent, below the estimate.
Here are some not so good news... K-12 public education has suffered budget reductions, and virtually all of the state’s 152 public school districts will have to confront budget concerns/issues in the next school term starting this fall. Some budget restorations to K-12 were made late in the session as the House and Senate agreed to put $30 million more into the FY 2011 budgets, bringing that spending plan to just over $2.11 billion. The Legislature also agreed to put $25 million into education budgets for the teachers around the state who have been designated as National Board Certified teachers. These teachers went through a rigorous course – and spent some of their own money – to attain this certification, and they are considered some of the brightest minds in our classrooms. Some surrounding states have eliminated the extra pay for their nationally certified teachers.
Late in the session, Legislators passed dozens of what they call “general bills,” dealing mostly with policy matters such as public education, health and welfare, public safety and judicial issues. Some of these proposals will result in totally new laws, while others merely update or “tweak” existing laws. A bill already signed into law and that drew major attention of the media and the public was HB 512 which will require a doctor’s prescription for the purchase of pseudoephedrine, a major ingredient in the making of the illicit drug crystal meth. This was backed by all of the major law enforcement agencies and officials who are trying to reduce the scourge of crystal meth production that affects so many lives in our state.

   

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