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Good afternoon! As many of you know, the 2017 Regular Legislative Session commenced at noon on Tuesday, January 3rd. The work thus far has been hectic in preparing bills, and the deadline to request bills is today. Also today, the Mississippi House overwhelmingly passed House Bill 479, a package of campaign finance reforms that now go to the Senate.
Much of the talk this session will center around two issues: recalibration of the education funding formula, and potential ways to initiate road and bridge improvements. The Legislature is awaiting a report from EdBuild on ways to best restructure the education funding formula so that a larger percentage of tax dollars makes its way into the classroom for the benefit of students and teachers. As to road and bridge improvements, there seems to be consensus that a tax increase is not appropriate. With a new President effective January 20 and his commitment to infrastructure projects, most people seem in agreement to wait and see what type of road and bridge initiatives will be passed under the Trump Administration. There may well be better opportunities under the new administration to leverage taxpayer dollars for projects in Mississippi.
The budget will continue to be tight as expected. The Appropriations Committee is meeting with each state agency to go over budget needs and requests and will study these requests in the next several weeks.
In other news, this week I was honored to be appointed by Gov. Phil Bryant to the Mississippi Presidential Inaugural Committee and I plan to be one of several members representing our State in Washington D.C. on Inauguration Day. I’m looking forward with anticipation to the new Administration and the positive developments that will come through the Trump appointments, including US Supreme Court appointments. Please continue to pray for our President-elect and the incoming Congress as they work together for a better America. Thank you for allowing me to represent you in the Mississippi House of Representatives!
Sincerely,
Rep. Andy Gipson
