Legislative session ends

Yesterday around 3:00 pm, the 2012 regular session of the Mississippi Legislature came to an end.

There still exists a possibility of a special session to address charter school legislation, which failed to pass this session. I doubt, however, that one will be called.

SENATE PASSES HOUSE REDISTRICTING MAP

In a showing that the gentleman's agreement is now back in place under Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves (R), there was no debate over the House plan whatsoever in the Senate.

***BREAKING*** - SENATE MOVING TO HOUSE REDISTRICTING MAP

Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven) is presenting it to the Senate now.

***BREAKING** - SENATE PASSES FLOWERS MAP 46-5

Vote report to come soon.

ANALYSIS OF FLOWERS SENATE MAP: Not a perfect plan, but not awful like the House map

After reviewing the Senate redistricting plan proposed by Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven), I've got to say that it's not that bad of a map.  In fact, by comparison, this makes the House map created by Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) look even worse.  The Flowers map shows that it is possible to redistrict the state without re-segregating it as Denny did.

Here are some notes:

• 33 of the 52 Senate districts lost African-American voting population when the state as a whole saw its African-American population increase by 0.7%
• That being said, only 4 districts saw any significant decrease in BVAP (black voting-age population), and those districts were 2, 14, 33, and 47.
• Depending on the definition of "districts of influence" one chooses, the number of lost districts of influence is either 2 or 4.  
• If a district of influence is one which has a BVAP of 25%-50%, then there are 15 districts of influence out of 52 under this map.  That's opposed to the House map, which has 19 out of 122. 
• The number of majority minority districts increases by 2 under the Flowers map.
• The reduction of the number of split precincts to 14 is pretty impressive.
• Sen. Bill Stone (D - Ashland) is the only Senator I see that's getting screwed pretty hard.  His district, District 2, is being moved to DeSoto County, and he's being thrown into Sen. Nicky Browning's (D - Pontotoc) district.

I don't think you'll see much rancor over this plan, but we'll see.  The plan is before the Senate right now.

HERE IT IS: The proposed Senate redistricting plan

Here is the map, followed by the summary.  Click on these if you want a bigger version to look at:

Flowers Senate Map



Flowers Plan Summary

***BREAKING*** - Senate redistricting map to be revealed at 4:00 p.m.

The Senate redistricting plan will be unveiled this afternoon at 4:00 p.m.  Furthermore, according to sources, all senators will be allowed to look at the map prior to it being released this afternoon.  This is, of course, in contrast to how the Republican House leadership handled the unveiling of their redistricting map, with Rep. Bill Denny (R - Jackson) ripping copies of the plans out of people's hands.

We'll see how Sen. Merle Flowers (R - Southaven) drew the maps shortly....

The Senate roll call vote on the Workers Compensation Destruction Bill

Here's how they voted yesterday on the bill that's about as bad for Mississippians as it can get:  http://billstatus.ls.state.ms.us/2012/pdf/votes/senate/1190017.pdf

Senate passes Workers Compensation Destruction Bill 31-15

That's it. The Workers Compensation Destruction Bill is off to Gov. Phil Bryant (R) for his signature.

This post is brought to you by Travis Tritt.  The Lord better have mercy on the working man, because the Republicans they just elected to the run the state sure as hell don't.


 

Workers Compensation Destruction Bill now being debated by the Senate

As outlined earlier here today, the Workers Compensation Destruction Bill is a nightmare for Mississippians who have to work for a living. The Republican-run House didn't care. The Senate now has the bill before them. We'll see if they care about working Mississippians. (My money's not on "no", but on "of course not".)

Mississippians beware: House votes to pass Workers Compensation Destruction Bill

Hired business and insurance lobbyists look on
as House passes their Workers Compensation Destruction Bill

Under the watchful eye of business and insurance lobbyists, the House passed the Workers Compensation Destruction Bill this morning 63-56.

Here's how they voted:

House Vote on SB2576 Conf Rep

Republicans on verge of buying Mississippi another lawsuit with Workers Compensation Destruction Act

That nonsense factory formerly known as the Mississippi Legislature is about to crank out another winner.

Upon further review of the SB 2576 conference report, I can safely say that the changes made by the conferees were cosmetic and did little to take Mississippi workers out of the cross-hairs.  The bill still removes the Supreme Court's requirment that the Workers' Compensation Act be liberally construed to achieve its beneficent purpose.  The bill still changes the definition of the primary purpose of the Workers' Compensation Law.  The bill still limits an employee's ability to select a physician of his or her choice.  The bill still fails to define what will constitute voluntary benefits subject to attorneys' fees.  The drug testing provisions have gotten worse with the removal of a probable cause requirement.  The bill still allows an employer to be immune from any action of defamation of character regardless of how extreme the employer's conduct is towards their employee.  Contrary to previous Supreme Court rulings, the bill still provides for apportionment regardless of whether the pre-existing condition had an occupational effect.  And finally, the bill still harms workers through its change of the very purpose of the Act and the manner in which the Act is to be construed.

Soon, you will likely be able to add this to the growing list of bills sure to draw a court challenge once the legislative session is over. 

Workers Compensation Destruction Bill out of conference; still awful

I figured we were headed down a bad road when the conferees were named on the Workers Compensation Destruction Bill, and I was right. The bill still forces the family of a worker killed on the job to prove causation without the testimony of their deceased loved one. (I call this the "dead men tell no tales" provision.) The bill still creates an unfair apportionment scheme for injured workers with regard to preexisting conditions, takes away the right of an injured worker to choose his own physician in many cases, and creates a presumption that a worker on any prescribed medication was drunk at the time of injury.

Further the bill still does nothing to address the problems outlined in the lengthy PEER report that blasted our current Workers Compensation scheme. In fact, this bill is likely to make those problems worse, not better.

As an aside for those of you out there with Haley Barbour bumper stickers on the Silverado the bank still owns - The Workers Compensation Destruction Bill is the perfect example of what Republicans do when given power: they grind middle-class and working-class folks into grist for the rich. It's fine for the guy who owns the plant where you work and the folks who own the bank your wife is a loan officer for to vote Republican. Heck, it's in their economic best interest. But you ought to look in the mirror and ask yourself if the folks you've been voting for are ever going to look out for you. The Workers Compensation Destruction Bill is your answer.

I'll try to post more on this later this morning, but I can already tell you work's going to get in the way.