It’s a done deal.
Mississippi Gov. Phil Bryant announced the agenda for the June 5 special session of the legislature Tuesday, but one of the biggest issues facing our state — funding for our state’s deteriorating roads/bridges infrastructure — will again go unresolved.
Thus ends one of the sorriest legislative sessions in our state’s history, a session that did not address the most pressing and urgent challenges we face — road/bridges infrastructure, K-12 education funding and the budget deficit. Bryant has made five cuts to the budget to the tune of more than $230 million over the past two years.
Stay tune. More cuts are on the way.
It would be charitable to call the 2017 legislative session a “do-nothing session.”
But the ugly truth is that our legislature did do something: They made all of these problems worse.
Everyone knew a special session would have to be called after the legislature adjourned its regular session on March 29 without approving budgets for the Mississippi Department of Transportation or the Attorney General’s office. There was some hope on both sides of the aisle that the special session could be also be used to address these pressing issues.
It won’t happen.
Bryant, sensing the battle of wills between the leaders of the two chambers could lead to a protracted, and ultimately fruitless, impasse during a special session that could cost taxpayers as much as $100,000 per day, has chosen not to bring any revenue proposals to the table.
It is not that there weren’t plenty of ideas floating around to address these issues. Everything from a state lottery to internet sales tax to a hike in state gasoline tax to repealing an ill-timed $400-million tax cut (most of it for corporations) had been offered as means of providing the necessary funding.
None of those proposals made it through.
There are two people primarily to blame for this inexcusable impasse — House Speaker Phillip Gunn and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, who runs the Senate.
Their refusal to hammer out a deal on any revenue proposal is a profound lapse in leadership and a disservice to the people of Mississippi.
So, for another year at least, our roads/bridges will be neglected, our school funding formula will remain in limbo and our state budget shortfall will continue to grow.
In a time of crisis, our leader-less legislature has failed us.
The Dispatch Editorial Board is made up of publisher Peter Imes, columnist Slim Smith, managing editor Zack Plair and senior newsroom staff.
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