|
The Magnolia Flag 1861-94
"Go, Mississippi"
Official State Song
Words and Music by Houston Davis
Verse:States
may sing their songs of praise
With waving flags and hip-hoo-rays,
Let cymbals crash and let bells ring
Cause here's one song I'm proud to sing.
Choruses:
Go, Mississippi, keep rolling along,
Go, Mississippi, you cannot go wrong,
Go, Mississippi, we're singing your song,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
Go, Mississippi, you're on the right track,
Go, Mississippi, and this is a fact,
Go, Mississippi, you'll never look back,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
Go, Mississippi, straight down the line,
Go, Mississippi, ev'rything's fine,
Go, Mississippi, it's your state and mine,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
Go, Mississippi, continue to roll,
Go, Mississippi, the top is the goal,
Go, Mississippi, you'll have and you'll hold,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
Go, Mississippi, get up and go,
Go, Mississippi, let the world know,
That our Mississippi is leading the show,
M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I
| |
MISSISSIPPI HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
WEEKLY SUMMARY REPORT FOR WEEK ENDING FEBRUARY 25, 2005
JACKSON, Miss. – Wednesday of the 8th week of the 2005 Regular
Session marked a
significant deadline – February 23 was the final day for
the full House and Senate to take floor action on revenue (tax) and
appropriations bills originating in their own respective chambers.
Accordingly, many observers had expected a huge push in the House early in
the week to enact substantial tax and fee legislation in advance of the
Wednesday deadline. But when Wednesday came, there were no new tax bills
rolled out onto the House floor -- a tacit, but unmistakable, admission that
the House leadership simply could not muster the required three-fifths (3/5)
support among the membership necessary to pass higher taxes. Perhaps not
coincidentally, however, the failure to move new tax legislation through the
House was accompanied by the leadership’s unexpected decision to kill
HB 1682, encompassing much of
Governor Haley
Barbour's "Momentum Mississippi"
economic development program, without allowing the full House to vote on the
bill.
Although fiscal conservatives, spearheaded by the
Mississippi
Legislative Conservative Coalition, have generally resisted pressure from the House
leadership and from the media to accede to higher taxes until all
appropriate spending cuts are on the budgetary table for proper
consideration, two major tax and fee hike bills have managed to pass the
House by slim margins a few weeks earlier this session. The first,
HB 410,
would place an additional $0.50 tax on every pack of cigarettes sold in the
state, ostensibly to partially fund Medicaid. The second,
HB 1409, was a
massive fee hike measure, intended to shore up certain favored General Fund
line items. Although both HB 410 and HB 1409 remained alive in the Senate at
week’s end, both technically are considered general (non-revenue) bills for
deadline purposes, and both will die if not reported out of the respective
Senate committees to which they are assigned not later than next Tuesday,
March 1. For it’s part, the Senate leadership has maintained a consistent
opposition to higher taxes and fees throughout the 2005 Regular Session.
The House reversed itself this week and passed by a nearly unanimous vote
an appropriations bill to keep the state parks open. (This development came
in the wake of last week’s false threat that raising new taxes was the only
way to save the parks -- a threat which quickly dissipated as the tax hike
deadline expired on Wednesday.) In doing so, however, the House first had to
turn back a serious effort to close down the Department of Environmental
Quality so as to give DEQ’s money to the parks. If DEQ were to shut down,
the state’s environmental regulation would be completely turned over to
Federal hands – a troublesome scenario to most Mississippians which
ultimately was rejected by a 46-67 vote. In voting to fund the state parks
without first specifying the source of the funding, however, the House
merely illustrated anew that its budget is not balanced, and that additional
cuts somewhere else are probably inevitable in the conference process with
the Senate. This will especially be true if HB 410 and HB 1409 indeed die in
the Senate, as expected.
On the economic development front, the full House approved
HB 1668 to
provide incentives for a company to construct a "mini steel mill" in the
Columbus area. The $800 million project would make flat-rolled steel to be
used in the automotive industry. The plant would employ more than 400
workers making an average salary of $70,000 a year, and likely customers
would include the Nissan plant in Canton and the Mercedes Benz plant in
neighboring west Alabama. The project has been fully endorsed by the
Mississippi Development Authority.
Final House approval also was given to
HB 1720, a bill to issue general
obligation bonds to finance a myriad of projects across the state, including
$10 million for the Mississippi Arts and
Entertainment Center in Meridian.
Country music superstar Faith Hill appeared at the Capitol on Monday to
promote state funding for that exciting project. Also included in the bond
bill would be a $20 million capital improvements project for the State
Department of Health, $10 million to renovate historical sites and enhance
tourism in Natchez, an $8 million loan for the Baxter pharmaceutical plant
in Cleveland, $2 million for the proposed B.B. King Museum in Indianola,
$500,000 for Confederate President Jefferson Davis’ home, Beauvoir, on the
Gulf Coast, and $5 million for additional equipment at the University of
Mississippi Medical Center.
Meanwhile, the clock continues to wind down toward the deadline to fund
the current (FY 2005) deficit for the Division of Medicaid. It was revealed
this week that Medicaid will have the funds available to pay claims for
services only through Friday, March 11, unless there is further legislative
action. The Medicaid agency director said many Medicaid providers have
canceled appointments and surgeries for some Medicaid recipients, while
other providers reportedly are requiring Medicaid patients to pay for
services in cash in advance. As each day passes, it is becoming more obvious
to all concerned that it will be necessary to withdraw upwards of $200
million from the tobacco trust fund in order to prop up the struggling
Medicaid programs and get it through the current fiscal year which ends June
30. Mississippi’s Medicaid program has grown by a staggering 36.2% in the
last year alone, second among the states only to New Jersey, which
experienced a 41.5% increase in Medicaid spending. The national average was
only 12.8%.
Representative Greg Snowden (R–Meridian) maintains a legislative web site
to aid constituents and other interested persons in obtaining information
about state government. The web site address is
www.gregsnowden.com. You
may click on the following link to
access copies of all bills introduced by Rep. Snowden during the current
Regular Session. Rep. Snowden is committed to being highly accessible
to his constituents and to the media, and he may be reached by e-mail at
gsnowden@mail.house.state.ms.us or at
greg@gregsnowden.com, or by
telephone at 601-693-5700 (Meridian office) or 601-527-5350 (Greg's personal cell phone – a
local call from anywhere within Mississippi).
EDITORIAL NOTE: Most of the facts and much
of the organization of the above summary is due to the fine work of Mac
Gordon, of the House Information Office. However, although Mr. Gordon
provides this information weekly to all House members, each member has the
privilege of using it however he or she sees fit. Rep. Snowden has taken the
liberty to re-write much of the standard summary, and to include his own
comments and expressions of opinion. Accordingly, while Rep. Snowden
gratefully acknowledges the work of the House Information Office in
organizing and supplying reliable and timely information as to the workings
of the House, all comment and all opinion contained in this summary is that
of Rep. Snowden alone, and not that of Mr. Gordon or any other staff
employee of the House of Representatives.
|
Visitor:
|
|
