Duvalier Malone and his husband Dr. Adrian Mayse reflect on their collective journey in love as they celebrate 13 years together. It is also the anniversary of Malone’s first published column where he came out to the world in response to the discriminatory “Mississippi Protecting Freedom of Conscience from Government Discrimination Act” passed in 2016.
Mississippi Gov. Tate Reeves signed an income-tax cut into law that will eliminate $524 million from state revenues.
After a bruising fight between Mississippi’s House and Senate, the Legislature passed a significant income tax-reduction bill on Sunday, doing away with the state’s lower tax bracket and shearing 1% off of the top bracket. The total cut to revenue will amount to $524 million after the plan fully phases in by 2026.
Mississippi House Speaker Philip Gunn signaled that he will not follow through on threats to make the use of $1.8 billion in federal relief funds dependent on the success of his push to eliminate the state income tax.
Although the original Postpartum Medicaid extension bill died with a March 9 deadline, Sen. Kevin Blackwell and the Senate still have a few opportunities to send the provisions in the bill back to the House. The Senate can amend bills from the House currently in conference between the two chambers that address the relevant sections of Mississippi Code to include the postpartum extension.
Speaker Gunn’s denial of access to House Republican caucus meetings, and position that the gatherings of a majority of House members are not subject to the state’s Open Meetings Act—is part of a long-held strategy of keeping the deliberations of the House GOP outside the view of the press and the public.
Our state is one of four that have not begun obligating their funds. If we wait another year to appropriate ARPA, we have less time to complete the jobs and we have fewer available contractors, subcontractors and civil engineers.
“The clock is ticking” on spending federal funds that would provide Mississippi with economic relief, alleviate hospital shortages and repair ailing infrastructure and more, Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann warned in an MFP Voices piece today.
For the second year in a row, Mississippi House leadership has once again killed an extension of postpartum Medicaid benefits, likely guaranteeing that many low-income people will lose health insurance benefits only two months after giving birth.
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