JACKSON, Miss. -- The Legislature this week adopted an historic and unprecedented plan to finance the state's public education system ahead of all other government-funded activities.

The education appropriations conference reports (HB 1033 and SB 2678) received approval Friday in both the full House and Senate at the end of the fourth week of the 2003 legislative session. The compromise measure was agreed upon by House and Senate negotiators after a week of discussions in conference committee. The governor has announced that he plans to sign the measures into law at a ceremony on Tuesday.

The education measure also includes the funding necessary to retain the services of Barry Rhoads, a military base-closure consultant who has assisted Meridian and other Mississippi military communities in past BRAC rounds, another of which Congress has scheduled for 2005. The state’s military communities had been surprised and alarmed in November when Governor Musgrove fired Rhoads and replaced him with a Democratic party operative possessing comparatively little base closure experience. Nevertheless, Musgrove pleased military communities representatives around the state Friday when he promised not to veto this new funding measure, which was tacked onto the massive education bill. Barry Rhoads, therefore, will remain "on board" as the state gears up to resist anticipated new Federal efforts to close some of Mississippi’s military bases.

But the massive "up-front" funding of educational needs was the week’s big story at the Capitol. Historically, education spending has been handled near the end of each session along with other state agencies, but this year (an election year) the Legislature chose to cement education as it’s top priority with the early funding measure. The bill would allocate about $236 million in additional money over and above original Legislative Budget committee recommendations for public education for FY 2004. The state General Fund budget for FY 2004 will be approximately $3.5 billion, and educational spending alone will top $2.1 billion, or some 62 percent of the total. The two education appropriations conference reports approved by the Legislature Friday (HB 1033 and SB 2678) together provide $142 million additional for K-12, $23.5 million additional for community colleges, and $70 million additional for higher education, all over and above what budget writers originally had recommended in November.

To give some perspective to the magnitude of this week’s legislative action, consider the complaints frequently voiced to the effect that Mississippi should spend more money on education and less on prisons. The Legislative Budget committee recommended in November that the total Corrections (i.e., prisons) budget for FY 2004 be only $234 million, or less than 7% of the General Fund budget, which total is less than the increase ($236 million) added for education this week over and above original Legislative Budget committee recommendations. Indeed, of all the other expenditures made by the state from the General Fund budget, the total from only two areas, Debt Service and Medicaid (at approximately $246 million each) exceed the increase ($236 million) over and above original recommendations added to education this week by the Legislature. Not only is education the obvious number one priority of the Legislature, it is so far ahead of whatever is number two to make any comparison irrelevant.

Educational leaders, naturally, were very pleased with this week’s action. Tom Layzell, the state's higher education chief, soon to move to a similar post in Kentucky, called the plan "unprecedented action" by the Legislature in an appearance before the House Appropriations Committee. Alcorn State University President Clinton Bristow Jr. said it "sends the message nationally that we are moving forward in Mississippi" and that it tells "our professors to stay home." University of Mississippi Chancellor Robert Khayat said the bill "makes the statement that education is critical to the development of Mississippi." University of Mississippi Medical Center Vice Chancellor Wallace Conerly, M.D., whose facility has been hit hard by budget cuts in recent years, said the current proposal could be the "saving grace" for the state's only teaching hospital.

Mississippi's historically low out-of-state tuition rate has been on the rise in recent years, one official noted. Once the lowest in the U.S., the rate has been increased by 44 percent in recent years.

The massive infusion of money into education for FY 2004 largely is from "one time monies" that will not be available in future years. That means that unless the economy picks up dramatically and revenues improve significantly, budget writers in future sessions will face very difficult decisions. House Speaker Tim Ford (D–Baldwyn), who himself is retiring at the end of this session, this week flatly predicted that the Legislature will be forced to raise taxes next year. Quoted in the Clarion-Ledger, Ford said: "They can either have a tremendous cut next year or I think you're going to be looking at a combination of taxes . . . I don't think that the economy can pick up fast enough to take care of it." And, speaking from the House floor on Friday, Education Committee Chairman Joe Warren, (D–Mount Olive) agreed: "Unless there is a really big upturn in the economy, you're going to be faced with either raising some money or making very drastic cuts."

Clearly, the 2004 Regular Session of the Legislature, which will feature a new Speaker, many new members of the House and Senate, and perhaps a new Governor and Lieutenant Governor, already is shaping up as a battle royale on the question of new and additional taxes for Mississippi.

A very controversial item of debate on the floor of the House this week related to HB 825, which directed that the state's estimated $104 million 2003 payment from the tobacco settlement be diverted from the trust fund and spent to help pay for various state-funded medical programs. When the tobacco trust fund was established a few years ago, the Legislature pledged not to touch the principal, but rather would spend the earnings on needed health-care programs. But when budget times got hard, as was the case last year as well as this year, Legislative leaders considered it necessary to scoop up the annual tobacco payment and spend it in the budget before the money ever makes it into the "trust" fund. Proponents of the tobacco diversions have characterized this process as "borrowing money from ourselves," but the events of this week reveal that the term "borrowing" is a misnomer, because there evidently is no serious intention ever to pay the diverted money back into the trust fund.

Rep. Jim Ellington (R–Jackson) offered a floor amendment to HB 825 which would have required the money be paid back into the trust fund in annual installments beginning in FY 2006. As Ellington told the House, the amendment would make the diversion a "true loan" and would obligate the Legislature to put back the money it is now forced to take out to meet the current budget emergency. Ellington warned members that Mississippi should not follow the sad example of Tennessee, which essentially has already spent it’s tobacco monies to shore up the state budget. But, in a very illuminating floor debate, it became clear that the proponents of the tobacco diversion do not consider replenishment of the trust fund to have much priority; indeed, Rep. George Flaggs (D–Vicksburg) admitted as much and said that the money should not be paid back unless and until the state meets a very optimistic 5 percent growth requirement contained within the original HB 825. Ellington’s amendment, supported by most Republicans and many fiscally conservative Democrats, failed by a vote of 50 to 70. HB 825, allowing the diversion with no realistic mechanism for repayment, subsequently passed the House by a vote of 96 to 25.

In addition to the historic floor action this week, House committees passed out dozens of bills that will now go before the full House of Representatives for consideration. The deadline for committee action on all general (non-revenue) bills and constitutional amendments is Tuesday, February 4 in the chamber of origin, with Thursday, February 13 the deadline for original floor action on the bills that survived committee action.

Several public hearings were held at the Capitol this week by House committees and other groups. They explored safety aspects of police pursuits, uninsured motorist insurance coverage, high salaries at some state agencies and several anti-smoking bills before the Legislature.

Three medical experts testified to the alleged harmful effects of second-hand smoke, which one witness said is a leading cause of 53,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. Testimony was presented that said even the newest ventilation technology available is incapable of removing all second-hand smoke and its toxic components from the air. "Only laws that prohibit smoking in indoor environments can guarantee safe levels of exposure to second-hand smoke," according to this testimony.

Bills have been proposed that would ban smoking in all public places, another to ban smoking in restaurants, and another would limit smoking to the enclosed bar areas of restaurants. Another proposal would substantially raise the excise tax on tobacco products.

Yet another group pushed this week for a new law to make not wearing a seat belt a primary traffic offense. Under current law, although seat belt use is mandatory, it is a secondary offense, and law officers may not stop a motorist for the sole purpose of checking seat belt usage. Any citation for failure to wear a seat belt must be issued in association with another (primary) offense. The Department of Public Safety told those at the hearing that three-fourths of all drivers killed in the state in recent times were not wearing seat belts.

Here are some other bills that were passed out of committee and sent on to the full House:

> HB 1146 which would bring the state into full compliance with the federal "Help America Vote Act," and also help deliver an estimated $34 million to Mississippi to pay for instituting voting reforms considered desirable in the wake of problems in the 2000 presidential election. The full House has not yet considered this measure.

> HB 454 to provide for a civil fine of $100 for individual members of a public body (city councils, boards of supervisors, school boards, etc.) who willfully violate the provisions of the state's Open Meetings Law. Current law contains no "teeth" and HB 454 is intended as an incentive for officials to obey the law when it comes to public access to public meetings. This bill later passed the full House.

> HB 583 making teleconferences and other video meetings of public bodies conform with the Open Meetings Law. This bill also subsequently passed the full House.

> HB 646 requiring new applicants for physician licenses to be fingerprinted.

> HB 1027 to create drug courts statewide passed the Judiciary 'A' Committee. The courts have been highly successful in turning around addicts and in saving the state money.

> HB 1032 to establish a state certification program for therapeutic riding instructors passed the Public Health and Welfare Committee and the full House. The state Extension Service would provide the training.

> HB 800 to require charter boat captains to participate in a DOT-approved random drug testing program and proof of liability insurance.

> HB 63 to allow universities and two-year colleges to offer certain gaming-related courses.

> HB 1440 would allow the state to buy a hangar at Jackson International Airport from the struggling WorldCom Inc. to expand state airplane storage capability.

> HB 1120 would create a criminal offense of killing or injuring a public service animal. Fines could range up to $5,000 and jail sentences to five years.

> The House Transportation Committee amended a bill to designate a portion of State Highway 1 in the Delta as the "C.B. (Buddie) Newman Memorial Highway" in honor of the late speaker of the House of Representatives. Speaker Newman died in 2002.