Blount: State of the State response
Note: The following is the Democratic response to Gov. Tate Reeves’ State of the State address, provided by state Sen. David Blount and the Mississippi Democratic Party.
My name is David Blount and I represent District 29 in the Mississippi State Senate. That includes part of Jackson and the Byram/Terry area of South Hinds County. I serve as Vice Chairman of the Senate Democratic Caucus and I’m here to give the Democratic response to the Governor’s State of State address.
As Democrats we want to talk to you about a few big issues. Whether you’re a Democrat, Republican, or Independent we’re asking you to consider these ideas for yourself. If you agree with us, call your elected officials in Jackson and tell them what you think.
The first issue is more tax cuts.
In the past few years Mississippi has cut more than one billion dollars in annual taxes. Now the Governor and House Republicans want to abolish the state income tax. We believe this is irresponsible.
The income tax pays for one-third of the overall general fund budget: More than $2 billion a year. Republicans haven’t said how they would make up this amount or what they would cut.
We all know that our state’s economy (like the economy of every state) has seen an unprecedented windfall of federal money in recent years. This was during COVID and the Biden administration. That money is gone and it’s not coming back. Mississippi will soon be back where we’ve always been, having to do more with less. The last two Republican Governors each were forced to make mid-year budget cuts twice because revenues weren’t meeting projections. Now state revenues today are down almost three percent from where they were last year.
In Jackson, Democrats and Republicans balance the budget. This isn’t Washington DC where they cut taxes and increase spending.
Moving from income taxes to sales taxes does one simple thing: It shifts the burden of funding the government from people with large incomes (who will get the biggest tax cuts) to working and middle-class families who spend all of their income each month just to get by.
More than that: The Republican proposal calls for RAISING the sales tax and the gas tax. If you’re working or middle class, retired, or live in a rural area that could mean you see a tax increase.
These state tax cuts will force local cities and counties to raise property taxes. Democrats believe these tax increases can be avoided if only the state will meet its responsibilities within its current budget before passing more tax cuts.
We should be focused on infrastructure and education. Every community in Mississippi needs work on their roads, and bridges. Who’s going to pay for it now? Recently, these projects were paid for with federal money. If your water, sewer, or drainage system is failing and your rates are going up, who’s going to pay for it now? What condition will they be in when our children are our age? If your public school is underfunded and teachers are underpaid, who’s going to make up the difference? The state should fully fund local schools and help local governments with infrastructure and pay their increasing share of the retirement system.
The Mississippi Economic Council, the state’s leading business organization, recently listed its top legislative priorities as set by local Mississippi businesspeople. They did not even mention a tax cut. They said Mississippi needs to focus on workforce training at our community colleges and high schools, greater access to health care, and K-12 education. Democrats agree. We call on Republicans to support these proposals and fund them.
If you think Mississippi needs to be careful about any further tax cuts, please call your state Senator and Representative and let them know.
Medicaid expansion. Medicaid expansion is still the most important issue facing our state. Every year, Mississippi turns down more than a billion dollars a year to help our hospitals and health care providers. This new money will have a major positive impact – in fact the state economist reports that it will more than pay for the state cost of expansion. It will create jobs in health care, especially in rural areas. Just as importantly, closing the coverage gap will provide health insurance to more than 200,000 Mississippians who go to work every day in jobs that do not provide health insurance and who are one medical emergency away from bankruptcy.
The federal government is still offering us the same deal they have for more than a decade: We’ll give you nine dollars if you put up one dollar. That’s a good deal and we should take it.
Last year, the House passed a strong bipartisan bill to expand Medicaid in Mississippi. We can’t continue to wait and delay. The simple question is this: Will Mississippi be the 41st state to expand Medicaid or the 50th?
If you agree that Mississippi should take full advantage of federal funding for Medicaid, please call you state Senator and Representative.
Supporting public schools. Mississippi has made great progress and received national acclaim for the progress of our public schools. Reading scores and graduation rates are up. That’s because in recent years we have put aside partisan battles and focused on the basics: Increased funding for our schools, historic pay raises for our teachers, and more career options for all students. We came together and the results are clear. Republicans led passage of the third-grade reading gate with overwhelming Democratic support. Democrats and Republicans have pushed for more reading coaches to help students who had fallen behind and more career coaches. We passed a new funding formula that increases funding with greater equity. We have been working together.
Now some Republicans want to blow it up. They want to send tax money to private schools in the name of “school choice”. What is school choice?
For some, it’s allowing a student to transfer from one public school district to another. Does that mean a student in Jackson is free to go to Clinton, Madison, or Brandon? A student in Moss Point to Ocean Springs? Tunica to DeSoto County? What effect will this have on local property taxes? Or could this create the transfer portal for high school sports? We’ll see exactly what they propose.
Other Republicans suggest that the state should give every student a voucher to take to pay their private school tuition. Let’s do a little math. The state spends about $6,800 on each student in public schools. There are around 50,000 students in private, church-related, and home schools. Let’s be conservative and say ten percent of students currently in public schools choose to use a voucher to go private schools. That’s $630 million dollars a year. Most of it is a new cost to you and the state budget.
As Democrats we believe that any school receiving state funds should be subject to the same academic accountability standards and oversight by the state auditor – just like public schools.
Democrats also believe in raising teacher pay. We supported the bipartisan teacher pay raise bill. However, other states keep raising pay and, in just a few years, much of that raise has been lost to higher insurance premiums. To be specific: If you are a teacher, married, with two children almost half (43%) of your take home pay from your raise goes to higher insurance costs. Ask Republicans what their plan is to keep pace with other states and help with insurance. We must keep supporting our teachers and fully fund our schools – and more tax cuts will make that impossible.
If you agree with us that we’re on the right path and need to keep supporting our teachers and schools, please call your state Senator and Representative.
We want to restore the initiative process. Democrats want to give you back the right to sign a petition and put issues on the ballot. Since the Mississippi Supreme Court took this right away from you, Republicans have had three years to restore it. They haven’t done it. It sure looks like they don’t want you to have the right you had for thirty years. If you agree with Democrats that you should have the right to an initiative process so you can vote on issues, please tell your state Senator and Representative.
Democrats stand for protecting the Public Employees Retirement System. We believe the state has a contractual obligation to our employees and retirees. That means protecting a defined retirement benefit and keeping our promises – including an annual Cost of Living Adjustment – to ALL of our retirees. We agree with Republicans that a new benefit tier is necessary for people who haven’t started to work yet. However, let’s be clear: that by itself is not enough to fix the system for the long-term. Meeting our obligation is going to require more money. We should get the retirement system in order before passing even more tax cuts. If you agree with us, please tell you about the state Senator and Representative.
Finally, Fighting corruption. Let’s face it, Mississippi is currently a one-party state. About 60 percent of the electorate has 100 percent of the political power. The problem is that when one party stays in power for too long some people begin to get sloppy. Some people start to become arrogant. Some people see it only as a way to make money off the taxpayers. We saw this with the welfare scandal. We need competitive two-party elections to keep both sides honest. Mississippi needs Democrats to speak out. And we ask you – whether you are a Democrat, Republican, or Independent – to work with us when you think we’re right.
We believe most Mississippians support these ideas. We believe that on most issues the Legislature can build a bipartisan coalition and move our state forward.
I’m reminded of the historic moment when Mississippi changed our state flag. Initially that was the goal only for Democrats. There was a shrinking minority of loud people who supported the old flag. Many Republicans thought those people spoke for the whole state. We knew there were many good people – Democrats, Republicans, and Independents – who wanted it to change. Then most Republicans came to see that we needed a flag that represented everyone in Mississippi. And in a general election we all found out when 73 percent of Mississippians agreed.
That accomplishment shows what we can do when we work together for ALL of Mississippi, not just the loudest or the most extreme among us.
These are important issues facing our state. You have a voice in how they are decided. Your state Senator and Representative want to hear from you. The Governor, Lt. Governor, and Speaker of the House want to hear from. The phone number at the Capitol is 601-359-3770. Thank you for listening. God bless Mississippi and God bless the United States of America.
