A Month for Confederates, a Week for Hurricane Preparedness

This morning Governor Bryant issued a statement declaring May 23-27th "Hurricane Preparedness Week." From NewsMS:

“Eleven years after Hurricane Katrina, we have vivid memories of that storm and its aftermath,” said Gov. Bryant. “Catastrophic hurricanes do not occur every year, but we must prepare ourselves in such a way that we are prepared for any level of destruction.”

Yes, five days for hurricane preparedness, but thirty for Confederate history. 

But the irony lost on Phil Bryant doesn't stop there, because the Mississippi Emergency Management Agency has been urging Speaker Gunn, Lieutenant Reeves, and Governor Bryant to appropriately prepare for quite some time. Last month, the Clarion Ledger reported that Mississippi's "Hurricane Preparedness" hub is operating with 48% of the budget needed to respond to real crises:

In 2006, after Hurricane Katrina hit, State Personnel Board audit showed that in order to handle a similar disaster, the agency would need  $6.1 million.  It was fully funded that year.  

In 2016, the agency was just given a budget of $3.2 million. That's with 16 open federal disasters still in various phases of recovery, including hurricanes Katrina and Isaac, tornadoes from Louisville, Smithville, the Pine Belt, and all around the state on Dec. 23, 2015, as well as the recent flooding from March 9.

So when Governor Bryant reminds you to be prepared, you should take him seriously. 

Because if something happens, he doesn't have a plan to save you. 

Adults in the Room

When you consider the sorts of things that matter to Democrats and Republicans in Mississippi government, it's easy to definitively pick out the adults in the room.

While Punxsutawney Phil Bryant peeked out of his office today looking for the federal government's shadow, he followed the same trodden path of many discredited, discriminatory, Mississippi governors before him, saying:

Because these decisions are better left to the states, and not made at the point of a federal bayonet, Mississippi's public schools should not participate in the president's social experiment.

Perhaps this sort of language keeps Bryant's appetite for "states' rights" satiated, but it's the sort of distraction that has led to the habitual failure to acknowledge the real issues facing our state. It's the sort of attitude that has directly contributed to the collapsing bridges and roadways, failing schools, and dying hospitals.

Now in 2016, Bryant finally has the genetic makeup he prefers in the House and Senate, and his legislative cronies (slash Gubernatorial farm team) Speaker Gunn and Lieutenant Reeves have offered up the economic package they've always wanted:

A complete short on public services, with miscalculations to boot. They had plenty of money for more corporate tax cuts, but not enough for basic functions of our state. And if that's not enough, they didn't even give themselves enough money to fund the stuff they did approve.

So, today, when Legislative Democrats reached out to Governor Bryant to call a special session directed at solving our devastating mental health crisis, we can all imagine that none of them held their breath. But that doesn't mean they aren't right for doing it, and it doesn't mean they don't deserve a round of applause.

Because at least someone is acting like an adult.

New Report Shows What Won't Be Addressed

A health report out today shows alarming numbers for Mississippi. The report shows that nearly 2,300 deaths could be avoided each year if policy makers will fix the problems associated with poor access to health care services. Based on what we have seen over the past four years of Republican governance, it seems unlikely that Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves or House Speaker Philip Gunn will address any of these problems over the next four years.

Here are some highlights of the report:

• 20 percent of Mississippians do not have health insurance (Republican't don't care.)
• 34 percent of children live in poverty (Republicans don't care.)
• Income inequality is very high (Republicans don't care.)
• 35 percent of Mississippians are obese (Republicans don't care.)
• 45 percent of children in Mississippi live in single-parent households (Republicans don't care.)
• 12 percent of Mississippians are excessive drinkers (Republicans don't care.)
• 20 percent of automobile accidents are caused by alcohol impairment (Republicans don't care.)
• A 877:1 ratio of citizens to mental health providers (Republicans don't care.)

Some of the best policy tools lawmakers have at their disposal to remedy this crisis are the Earned Income Tax Credit (a credit which helps working individuals and families) and paid family medical leave. The record of the Republicans gives us little hope that Republicans care enough to do anything about the problems. Meanwhile, Mississippi remains on the bottom of the bad lists. Republicans don't care. 

Drug Dealers for Lagasse (and other Republicans)

At a Republican campaign rally in Hancock County today, Republicans Phil Bryant, Tate Reeves, Speaker Philip Gunn, Reps. Timmy Ladner and Mark Formby, and party chairman Joe Nosef stood next to their candidate for House District 122, Mickey Lagasse.

Rallies like this are pretty common - firing up the crowd, taking pictures, handing out stickers. What stood out about this event is where it was being held. The Republican rally took place at the business of Gary Wayne Necaise of Hancock County; Mr. Necaise (mugshot below) has had his fair share of run-ins with the law.

Mickey Lagasse

In 2013, Mr. Necaise - a Lagasse supporter - was arrested with dozens of others (some of which were children) in a massive Hancock County drug bust in where Necaise was charged with the sale of a controlled substance. Such substances, mind you, are responsible for tens of thousands of Americans' deaths each year - now causing more deaths than vehicle accidents. 

That is now all water under the bridge as Republican candidates hold hands with Necaise in a strong show of party unity.

Poachers for Mangold

Last week, federal prosecutors in Alaska charged a number of Mississippians with illegally hunting and killing animals in a federal preserve. Among those charged was Charles Dixon of Brookhaven. According to the District Attorney's press release

Charles W. Dixon... is charged with two counts of violating the Lacey Act and one count of criminal forfeiture which seeks forfeiture of a STOLQuest SQ-4 aircraft.  As a basis for forfeiture of the aircraft it is alleged that Charles W. Dixon used the aircraft in the illegal outfitting, guiding and transporting operation, in addition to using the aircraft to transport unlawfully taken game taken by Clark W. Dixon and others.

Who is Charles Dixon? When he is not using his plane to transport dead animals that may have been killed in violation of federal law, Dixon plays host to a revolving door of Republican officials and wannabes.

In June, Charles Dixon hosted a fundraiser for Republican House candidate Vince Mangold; Mangold is challenging House Democratic Leader Bobby Moak of Bogue Chitto. At this fundraiser for Mangold were Governor Phil Bryant, House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton), Secretary of State Delbert Hosemann, Agriculture and Commerce Commissioner Cindy Hyde-Smith, Sen. Sally Doty (R-Brookhaven), and Rep. Becky Currie (R-Brookhaven). 

A couple questions as we head into the week: How many Mississippi Republican elected officials joined Mr. Dixon on the alleged illegal hunt? Why are Rep. Becky Currie's eyes closed in roughly half the pictures taken of her?

Commissioner Hyde-Smith, Governor Bryant, Bette Dixon, and Charles Dixon

Vince Mangold is standing between Bryant and Secretary Hosemann

Philip Gunn Declares the Campaign Over

This morning at the Neshoba County Fair, House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) spoke before the crowd about his vision for the Republican Party. Flanked by fellow Reps. Randy Rushing (R-Decatur), Bubba Carpenter (R-Burnsville), Brad Mayo (R-Oxford), Trey Lamar (R-Senatobia), Mark Formby (R-Picayune), and Herb Frierson (R-Poplarville), Speaker Gunn began his remarks by highlighting his support of changing the state flag. He then asked the House Republicans mentioned above to hold up their hands as Republican legislators who support his agenda.

Gunn Protestor with Gunn Supporters Herb Frierson, Trey Lamar, and Mark Formby

Gunn went on and on about how bad his agenda has been for Mississippi and outrageously doubting the faith of those who disagree with him while getting to another argument. Gunn believes the campaign season is over and Republicans already won. Fortunately, for those of us who are not falling for Gunn's big talk, voters still have the final say.

Voters will have the chance to judge whether the tens of thousands of jobs lost under the past four years of Republican control are worth returning to government next year. They will vote to decide whether to return candidates like Randy Rushing, Bubba Carpenter, Mark Formby, and Brad Mayo back to their offices to help support Philip Gunn's agenda.

Even though Gunn thinks the campaign season is over, he sure is determined to make sure his obedient followers like Rushing, Carpenter, and Mayo are returned to the Capitol in January to help advance his policies.

Have You Seen Philip Gunn?

Ever since making comments about changing the Mississippi flag, House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) has been hiding. Gunn was not at Jacinto in Alcorn County or Lena Day (his family's Leake County hometown) during the Fourth of July weekend, and he was absent from the Superintendent's Association convention on the Gulf Coast last week. Gunn's chief of staff has taken it upon himself to speak on the Speaker's behalf. At an event at the state Capitol today, his church pastor spoke to the attendees while Gunn simply sent along a letter. 

Philip Gunn Showing How Deep His Troubles Are

The latest comment on his Twitter account dates back to June 22 when he declared his support for removing the Confederate battle flag from the state flag. 

Normally, Gunn and his like-minded friends such as Governor Phil Bryant and House Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden retreat to the warm embrace of talk radio in situations like this to reassure their base that there is a steady hand at the wheel. Not this time, it seems. It appears Gunn is going to stay clear of the public view. Perhaps he will grace Neshoba County with his presence next week at the fair. The reaction from the crowd will be fascinating to watch, should Gunn show up. Yet, if Gunn stands by his position, what does he have to fear?

Republicans Sure Would Hate Cuts They Supported

If you have been tuned into the news this week, you have seen the stories about House Appropriations Chairman Herb Frierson (R-Poplarville) calling together the heads of state agencies to warn them about possible funding cuts if Initiative 42 is approved by voters this November. This is not the first time Frierson has tried this divide and conquer strategy to try and win his position. He used similar talking points when he rejected any attempt to broaden access to Medicaid services in the state. He has killed any attempt to provide hospitals and medical professionals with more paying customers, and he is now trying to scare away and defeat any attempt to provide public schools with the resources they need to educate our students. The message from the Republicans is clear: if you vote to force us fund our own public education formula, then we are going to blame you for firing hundreds of people. This is a false choice set up by Frierson and his fellow House Republicans who refuse to roll back any corporate tax giveways or dip into $622 million of unappropriated revenue to make up the $200 million funding gap in K-12 education.

Herb Frierson

Here is the biggest dose of hypocrisy: Frierson voted for a 30 percent cut to state agency funding earlier this year. If you recall from this year's legislative session, Frierson and the Republicans voted for a politically-motivated cut of around 30 percent to the state's general fund. There were no hearings on the bill. There was no consultation with the state economist. There was no summoning of state agency leaders to alert them of the impacts. How many people would state agencies have had to lay off if the Republicans' tax cut bill had been signed into law? We will never know, because Frierson did not care to ask.

Frierson's crocodile tears underscore what we already know about their stunning hypocrisy: Republicans do not want to fully support Mississippi's education system. They are pulling out all the stops to deflect from their own failures on public education. Frierson and the leadership team of Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) can try to change the subject all they want, but the fact is well known that you can either be a Republican or support public education - but you cannot do both.

GOP tax cut would cost more than effort to save hospitals

For years now, Gov. Phil Bryant (R - Mississippi) has refused to adopt the new method of reimbursing hospitals for care provided to those without insurance and unable to pay.  This has driven a good number of our Mississippi hospitals to the brink of closure, and some straight into bankruptcy.  The reason he always gives is "we can't afford it."

Well, here's a comparison of the cost of the tax cut plan before the House today and the costs associated with the new method of hospital reimbursement:

2016
Tax Cut: $12.3M
Hospital Reimbursement: $29M

2017
Tax Cut: $56.2M
Hospital Reimbursement: $94M

2018
Tax Cut: $108.6M
Hospital Reimbursement: $108M

2019
Tax Cut: $166.8
Hospital Reimbursement: $124M

2020
Tax Cut: $233.7M
Hospital Reimbursement: $167M

Total cost from 2016-2020:
Tax Cut: $577.6M
Hospital Reimbursement: $522M

(Source: Lt. Governor’s office tax cut data and  “An Economic Analysis of the State and Local Impact

of Medicaid Expansion in Mississippi” David Becker and Michael Morrisey, November 2013)

Now, I may be a graduate of our chronically underfunded Mississippi public schools, but even I can understand when I'm being sold a bill of goods.

Undermining the public's intent with public education

Tomorrow morning at 10 a.m., the Mississippi House of Representatives will vote on an alternative initiative to the education funding ballot initiative that over 100,000 Mississippians signed on for last year.

This deliberate act led by Republican leaders to confuse and undermine the public’s intent is quite perplexing after Governor Bryant's strong declaration a few weeks ago that the public is in charge education in Mississippi.

Perhaps it is the large number of constituents who are employed or have children educated through public schools, or perhaps they took the Governor’s earlier mantra to heart, but about 13 Republican legislators have indicated they are opposed to the alternative language.

Speaker Philip Gunn, however, needs these 13 votes for Tuesday morning. According to sources, these 13 Republican legislators were taken into the Speaker’s office one-by-one and told they would lose their chairmanships and have $100,000 spent on their primary opponent against them this year. The backer of this $1.3 million? A candidate for office from Madison County with substantial financial resources.

This will be the first time in Mississippi history that the legislature has proposed an alternative to a ballot initiative by the people. If the people are in charge of education in our state, then the people should be voting on the initiative as they signed off on it. But instead, the Legislature is sending Speaker Pro Tempore Greg Snowden around to tell folks that they’ve met their "promises," and intentionally misleading the public through an alternative to the initiative.

Educating our children is a promise that has not been met - it is a necessity to improving our state. It is a necessity to turn around our continuous abysmal performance on every list imaginable, from the highest rates of incarceration to the worst places for business.

It is absurd to think that Speaker Gunn, arguably the most powerful elected leader, is threatening his moderate Republicans in order to cater to Tea Party reactionaries who do not understand that everyone suffers when we do not invest in our greatest asset - Mississippians.

Republican Unity on June 25?

An article in the Daily Journal this morning about Mississippi's Republican Senate primary left me with more questions than answers. The article discussed the rallying Mississippi Republicans will have to do once their runoff election occurs on June 24. The first question that lingers is "Do we honestly expect that unity to occur?"

Being in the middle of the action in Rankin County, I have heard from folks in each campaign say things like "If Thad wins, I'm staying home in November" or "If McDaniel wins, I'm staying home in November." I suppose this is one level of unity. Nerves are frayed for sure, and I just don't see how these hardened positions soften between now and November.

The second question I had was "Where are the governor and the speaker?" I couldn't help but notice that the Republican elected official quoted in the article was House Speaker Pro Tem Greg Snowden (R-Meridian). I know Snowden thinks I'm "full of it," but on Father's Day, I will give him some credit. I believe Snowden does a good job advocating for his party and staying on message. Still, it's pretty noticeable that Speaker Gunn (R-Clinton) has been completely missing in action from the Senate campaign for as far back as I can recall. I wasn't invited to the Cochran rally at the Ag Museum in Jackson a few weeks ago, yet I don't remember seeing any pictures or video of Gunn on the stage with the other Republican leaders.

Even Governor Phil Bryant has been mostly absent from the campaign trail with Cochran. At a recent visit to Rankin County, Lt. Governor Tate Reeves helped Cochran shake hands and talk with voters from Reeves's home county. Phil Bryant is also from Rankin County, but I have not talked with anyone (and I have asked) who has seen Bryant on the stump for the state's senior United States Senator. It's an odd spectacle having a governor of the same political party not helping the campaign of a sitting senator. I know Bryant's former chief of staff is Cochran's campaign manager (in name only these days), but that's about where Bryant's involvement ends.

The examples of Gunn and Bryant lead me to two primary conclusions. First, Gunn and Bryant do not care about this election and are only concerned about their own survival. Second, Gunn and Bryant are still scared of the tea party. The second concern is understandable but only if you have a room you don't want someone sneaking into. If this is the level of effort Gunn and Bryant are putting into a campaign for a United States Senate seat, candidates running for office next year should not expect a lot of help from Gunn or Bryant - as if it would help in the first place. With friends like these...

Phil Bryant's Hands Are Tied

News broke last week that a casino in one of the poorest regions of Mississippi is closing its doors this summer. As a result, over 1,000 Mississippians will have to find new means of employment.

The response from Republican Governor Phil Bryant: “I don’t see anything more we can do."

So that's it? So long and good luck is all Bryant is coming back with? His whole schtick since coming into office was to better the life of business owners and their shareholders who do business in the state. Working folks are on their own with the Bryant Administration.

What is even more shocking about Governor Bryant's response is that over the weekend, the Republican-led legislature approved PAY RAISES for the Governor's staff!

The first image below is of the bill that passed a few weeks ago appropriating money for the Governor's staff. The second imagine is what was passed yesterday. See for yourself:

 

The Governor was not able to keep a casino in Mississippi, but he sure can help his staff get a pay raise. It also seems unlikely there are performance benchmarks for the Governor's staff mandated in this bill, such as those in Speaker Gunn's teacher pay raise bill.

The workers in Tunica did not deserve to lose their jobs. The test for Bryant is whether he can say that his staff deserves to get a pay raise while over a thousand Mississippians prepare to lose their livelihood.

This would be unbelievable if it weren't how Republicans operate on a daily basis. Once again, the Republicans continue to demonstrate how out of touch they are with working-class Mississippians.

Speaker Gunn Talks Out of Both Sides

The issue of teacher pay raises is at the front of the state's newspapers this week. Educators from across the state have descended upon their state Capitol to express their First Amendment right to peaceably assemble while advocating for salary increases which have not been granted in many years.

House Speaker Philip Gunn (R-Clinton) has a different view of the teacher assemblage.

“We can’t get into political grandstanding,” Gunn said. “What that will do is jeopardize a raise, if they come in with some outrageous amount, it’s not going to happen.”

Gunn seems to think rallies for this cause are political theatre. Not so fast, Mr. Speaker.

“The Democrats haven’t said a word about a pay raise, all of the off season while we were out of session, nothing,” Gunn said. “Now all of a sudden they want to jump on the bandwagon … We in the House are going to do everything we can to get them as much of a raise as we can afford.”

First, if anyone is jumping on a wagon it is Gunn. You might get whiplash watching Gunn flip flop all over the place. He wanted to take sole credit for this issue and has now painted himself into a very tight corner.

Second, Democrats led the effort to pass a teacher pay raise during last year's Regular Session, with the assistance of some House Republicans, but Gunn and most of his Republican supporters voted to kill that idea. The bill in question later died because of Republican infighting. See the 2013 House vote on teacher pay raises for yourself.

During Monday's press conference to address teacher pay raises, Speaker Gunn was nowhere to be seen in the Capitol Rotunda while Democratic legislators again stood beside our state's teachers. For someone who has broken rank with Governor Bryant and Lt. Governor Reeves to advocate for teacher pay raises, it is bizarre that Gunn decided to hide in his office rather than address the people on an issue he allegedly supports!

Gunn is suddenly trying to give himself political cover by shifting blame to his House Democratic colleagues should teacher pay raises fail to pass. He does himself no favors by suggesting that having teachers present in the Capitol expressing their freedom of speech somehow jeopardizes the issue. Mississippi's teachers work hard enough as it is without having to worry about the Speaker of the House talking out of both sides about this issue.

More on Gunn's Misleading Statements

Friday, we noted Speaker Philip Gunn's comments about the start of Mississippi's health insurance marketplace. It's clear Gunn did not do his homework.

He noted that health insurance costs are among the highest in the nation. What Gunn did not point out is that insurance companies providing plans on the new marketplace will start offering premium rates that are on par or lower than plans not in the marketplace. For example, if you are a 26-year-old who is transitioning from your parents' health insurance to your own plan, you will find that premium rates are likely to be lower in the new market than they are today. Early reports indicate that, in some instances, individuals can obtain coverage for nearly $75 per month, after tax credits are included.

This is important to note because Gunn neglected to factor in tax credits that will help bring down the cost of the plan. When you take a plan offered on the market and calculate in the tax credits, you end up with rates lower than what Gunn is making up.

Gunn stated his belief that "We should work with providers to reduce the cost of  healthcare." Again, this goes back to Gunn not doing his homework. The Affordable Care Act has systems in place to help do just that. There are provisions in place to enhance coordinated care, clamp down on fraud and duplicative billing, avoid unnecessary hospital readmissions, encourage use of health information technology, and utilize best practices. These, among other tools, are helping to bring down the cost of health care. Data show that between 2009 and 2011, the cost of health care rose around three percent. That is the lowest rate of growth since records were kept going all the way back to 1960, three years before Gunn was born.

The Speaker concluded his statement by making it clear as a bell what his Tea Party political philosophy is all about. Gunn stated "It is not the government's job to take care of its citizens." For folks like Gunn and the Tea Party, they really mean that it is every man or woman for himself or herself. It's why they oppose the Affordable Care Act the way they do; the bill puts more consumer protections in place to help ordinary Mississippians fight against a system that is stacked against the average person.

Since the bill was signed into law in 2010, Gunn, Phil Bryant, and their Tea Party cohorts have been doing everything in their power to discredit, delay, dismantle, and disable it. Gunn and the Tea Party have been hoping for failure since the outset. Sadly, it is the nearly 500,000 Mississippians currently without health insurance coverage who end up taking the hits because of Gunn and the Tea Party's out-of-touch attitude.

ALEC convention wraps up in Salt Lake City, Mississippi Republicans head home with marching orders from Corporate America

Well, this summer's meeting of the American Legislative Exchange has concluded, and several Mississippi Republican elected officials, including Speaker of the House Philip Gunn (R - Clinton), have returned home with new marching orders from the big corporations who make up ALEC's Board. In celebration of that, here's a music video that explains ALEC:



For more on ALEC and Mississippi, click here for a collection of previous posts.

Charlie Mitchell: Attorney General "Sunshine" Law not what it's advertised to be

In an opinion piece on today's Daily Journal website, Charlie Mitchell outlines the losses the state will likely see going forward as a result of the so-called "Sunshine" Act that was the darling of corporate defense lawyer Philip Gunn (R - Clinton).  Gunn, of course, was elected Speaker of the House following the Republican takeover in January.

Some excerpts:

It's not about allowing citizens to learn more about what public officials are doing. 

It's about trying to curb the enthusiasm of Attorney General Jim Hood in signing contracts with private attorneys to file suits on Mississippi's behalf. 

It comes with a cost because, like them or not, these cases have been part of the state's revenue picture for almost 20 years.

...

Nobody likes trial lawyers, right? Ambulance chasers. That's what they are. So flushing them out into the open is a good thing, right?

Well, except for the fact that their efforts have ginned up hundreds of millions of dollars for the public treasury in this, the poorest state in the union.

...

But aside from the stench is that Big Tobacco (through its customers) is paying the state Big Money to offset Medicaid and other state expenses in treating people with tobacco-related illnesses. 

The 2011 payment was $113 million. Compare that to state revenue from casinos, which was $150 million during the same period. It's not a pittance. Over 25 years, payments are expected to total $3.6 billion.

There was also the MCIWorldCom settlement that provided the state treasury with $100,000,000.00 and a new building to house the Department of Environmental Quality.  There have been others as well.  I hope we won't need money like that going forward, because under "Sunshine", we ain't going to get it.

***BREAKING*** - Intrigue builds as House Education Committee may not pass Senate charter school bill

Representatives were called into Republican Speaker Philip Gunn's office today prior to the House Education Committee meeting, at which the Senate charter schools bill was to be presented.  The intention of the meeting was to press Education Committee members into voting for the bill.  The effort may not have worked, however, as Chairman John Moore (R - Brandon) announced during the committee meeting that there had been a late development. The bill was laid on the table subject to call, and the committee adjourned until tomorrow morning.  There's much more, though.

Rep. Jessica Upshaw (R - Diamondhead) and Speaker Philip Gunn (R - Clinton) team up to kill pardon hearings

Two days ago, I mentioned that Rep. Jessica Upshaw (R - Diamondhead) raised a point of order in an attempt to kill the Baria-Moak Amendment on SB 2195.  The Baria-Moak Amendment would require a public hearing before a pardon could be granted.  Had such a law been in place prior to former Governor Haley Barbour's Pardonpalooza in January, the public would have at least been aware that a large number of people were seeking relief from Barbour.

Not wimps or rabbits

For veteran legislative Democrats who have spent considerable time worrying about whether they extended enough respect to their Republican counterparts, these are strange times. Where Speaker McCoy anguished over the fairness of his decisions and often erred on the side of deference, Speaker Gunn and the replacements have chosen to deal in raw partisanship and compensate for their lack of institutional knowledge with sneak attacks and surprise. Even "sunshine" legislation, the centerpiece of the Republican election effort, was too incomplete and underdeveloped to be rolled out in the plain light of day. Containing nothing resembling what a reasonable person would consider "sunshine", the recently-deceased HB 122 stands as a reckless fantasy of a Speaker confused by a state that would permit a law and order Democrat to be elected Attorney General in a ruby red state.

The stops and starts of the first month of non-work in the House have rightfully drawn the ire of House Democrats. In a press release labeled "HB 122: The bill that was never properly before the House", Rep. Cecil Brown (D - Jackson) was quoted as saying:

"Republicans are fast-tracking selective legislation by subverting the committee process and bringing bills out on the floor well before their time.  This method of forcing bills down our throats has happened twice and it needs to stop.” 

For those who missed the point, Rep. Bob Evans (D - Monticello) told WLBT there would be no rolling over if Republicans stand determined to steamroll the rules of the House and of basic decency. Hopefully, Speaker Gunn is learning that the Speaker's stand is no place to work out your frustrations over seeing Jim Hood reelected. If not, he can expect the likes of Bob Evans and Cecil Brown to be waiting at every turn. Don't let the numbers on the House vote tally fool you, these folks are no "wimps or rabbits."  And if House Republicans continue in their efforts to ramrod shoddy legislation, they will be in for a long, unpleasant session.

Over twitter limit, so updates coming here ***CONSTANT UPDATES, SO USE REFRESH BUTTON***

Twitter has goofed, and says I'm over the limit.  Updates will come here on the blog.

Evans offers amendment to allow for penalty for false reporting.  GOP votes it down 43-77.

New Evans amendment to remove deacon from definition of "member of clergy".  Gipson says bill not intended to expand priest-penitent privilege, just to require deacons to report.  Rep. Cecil Brown now questioning Evans. Amendment voted down by 44-74.

Gunn got called out by Rep. Cecil Brown for ignoring calls for roll call vote.  Gunn says those wishing for roll call must stand.

Evans now seeks to amend definition of "members of clergy" to include the proper definition of priest-penitent privilege.  Gipson says proper definition not necessary.  Evans responds by saying it would cut down on needless litigation.  Amendment fails 41-78.

Gunn is now just doing all votes on amendments by roll call.

Evans now offering amendment to include school superintendents as mandatory reporters.  Appears to be an oversight.  Gipson says it's unnecessary.  Problem is that school principals are listed and superintendents are not.  Rep. Tyrone Ellis makes that point.  It does seem as though drafter just forgot to add that.  Amendment fails 43-78.

Evans moves to reconsider vote on amendment 5, which was the vote no roll call was held for.  That was the amendment that would have included "life of the mother" in the abortion language.  Concern is that GOP will use this definition to prevent abortions in instance of life of the mother.  Motion fails 41-77, meaning those 77 are against making an exception for in cases where the life of the mother is in doubt.

Rep. Ed Blackmon (D - Canton) is now offering an amendment that would provide for a hearing for those accused by these mandatory reports.  Blackmon says that the House needs to take these amendments seriously (I agree).  Blackmon now telling story from his personal experience about a woman wrongly charged with kidnapping.  Says his amendment would protect people from false reports.  Rep. Willie Bailey (D - Greenville) now questioning Blackmon.  Points out that law enforcement and teachers have similar protections.  Gipson comes out in favor of the bill.  Amendment passes unanimously.  Link to amendment.

Rep. Steve Holland (D - Plantersville) now offering amendment.  Holland's amendment arises from child rapes at Tupelo High School that were rampant in early 2000s.  5 young men later committed suicide.  Holland asks that the bill be renamed for 5th suicide victim.  That victim was the nephew of the teacher who abused some 40 young boys.  Gipson opposes it.  Good Lord.  That's tactless.  Amendment passes on voice vote over Gipson's opposition.

Rep. Adrienne Wooten asks for bill to be read.  Whole bill will now be read in whole.  This is a warning to Republicans who try to ram legislation through like they did with this bill.  HB 16 was assigned to committee and passed out of that committee with no debate allowed.  Gunn then tried to ram it through a day later (yesterday), but was held on a point of order.  I doubt we'll see attempts to circumvent the legislative process like that again.

Rep. Bob Evans (D - Monticello) has raised a point of order.  Gunn is having him write it down, so there is a break in the action.  Evans is raising the point that the bill amends by reference other sections of the Mississippi Code.  I didn't catch the code sections Evans listed, but I believe he's referring to the doctor-patient privilege and the priest-penitent privilege.  He's raising the issue that the bill 1) outright requires doctors to violate patient confidentiality, and 2) possibly adds deacons to the priest-penitent privilege.  Amending other statutes this way is frowned upon because it creates "catch-22" situations in the law.  Here, one statute would force a doctor to report a confidential communication, while another would punish him for doing so.

Sure is taking a long time to rule on this point of order.

It's 6:20, approximately 3.5 hours into the debate on HB 16, and we're waiting on a ruling on a point of order.  I'm calling it a night.