Area Lawmakers Preview Upcoming Legislative Session

TUPELO, MISS. (WCBI) – Mississippi lawmakers are preparing to start a new legislative session next week. Three  legislators from the region shared their priorities for the 2021 session.

For District 19 Republican Representative Randy Boyd, top items on his agenda going into the new session are workforce development and phasing out the state income tax. Representative Boyd says Mississippi is losing to other states without an income tax, when it comes to attracting businesses and residents.

“We have other states who hold that over our head and bargain with these companies, their employees coming in don’t want to pay the income tax when they can go someplace where it’s not happening, but it will be a phase out thing, we will have to raise some revenues in areas, and have to plug loopholes that are out there in the tax law,” Rep. Boyd said.

District 16 Representative Rickey Thompson says he has been hearing about the need for criminal justice reform from his constituents. The Democrat lawmaker sponsored House Bill 1273 in the last session. That bill would have revised provisions regulating sentencing and release of certain non violent offenders. The bill died in committee.

“That’s one thing we want to look at , that hadn’t had any nonviolent crimes, let them out , we want the ones that have some type of addiction problem, re entry program, we need to work on, they need some type of rehabilitation and some type of re entry back into society, that would definitely reduce some overcrowding,” Rep. Thompson said.

Senator Chad McMahan represents District Six. The Republican lawmaker says he will advocate for a teacher pay raise and increased funding for rural healthcare statewide.

“Our educators have shown how important they are during this pandemic, we need to find ways to strengthen education, public education, in addition, I think the pandemic has also revealed how important rural healthcare is and we find ways to find ways to support rural healthcare, hospitals and clinics, the entire network,” Sen. McMahan said.

Both the Governor and Lieutenant Governor say teacher pay raises are a priority for the upcoming session.

Lawmakers are also expected to address mental health challenges. Last year, a federal judge ruled Mississippi violated civil rights law by not providing enough care for mental health patients in their communities. The Lieutenant governor says that issue will be addressed during the 2021 session.

The session is scheduled to start January fifth. It is set to wrap up in April.