This week in politics: School choice bills return for second round in MS House

Yahoo

02-03-2025

The Mississippi House of Representatives has for the second-year advanced bills that would increase the amount of taxpayer cash available for families to spend on private schools.
On Wednesday, the House passed House Bill 1902, 1903 and 1894, containing code sections of state law relating to the Children's Promise Act, a multi-million-dollar tax credit program allowing parents to collectively receive $9 million in tax breaks for sending their children to private schools.
The Children's Promise Act, first passed in 2019, has been used as a tax credit program for families to get back money they pay to "charitable organizations." House Ways and Means Chairman Trey Lamar, R-Senatobia, told the Clarion Ledger the program's current funding limit is inadequate.
"It's a priority of mine," he said. "The need and demand for this outpaces the allowance of credits, and other tax credit programs are not being fully utilized."
HB 1902 would take unused tax credits away from other programs and place them with the Children's Promise Act. HB 1903 would increase the amount of money the program receives in total each year from $9 million to $16 million for families to receive tax breaks.
The other piece of the puzzle is HB 1894, which at first glance looks only to be a state bond issuance bill.
Within it lies the Children's Promise Act. When Lamar introduced the legislation to his committee, he made no mention of the portion that included tax dollar spending on private schools. The bill passed committee without any opposition.
"It is a little bit frustrating… It would be helpful to the whole House if (Lamar) would give us more time and a little bit more headway in terms of being able to understand what's in the bills," Minority Leader Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said.
For years, similar tactics have been used to get legislation through the Capitol. Lamar's most recent was Smith Wills Stadium, which transferred from Jackson's ownership to the state via a land conveyance bill passed in 2024. Jackson delegates later said Lamar made no direct mention of the bill's intent when presenting it.
Senate Education Chairman Dennis DeBar, R-Leakesville, has been on the record for years as opposing legislation that increases public funding for private schools.
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On Thursday, independent pharmacists gathered at the Capitol to urge lawmakers to pass meaningful reform on Pharmacy Benefit Managers, the pharmaceutical middlemen who often control both drug prices on consumers and the amount of money pharmacists can make on prescriptions.
"Independent pharmacies are often reimbursed less than the acquisition cost of medications," a press release on the press conference stated. "Furthermore, an independent audit found that chain drug stores and other PBM affiliates are paid eight times more than your hometown, independent pharmacy. PBM's steer patients to mail order or big box stores, killing small, independently owned pharmacies. This practice hurts communities and limits access to care."
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Both the House and Senate have passed legislation to increase transparency and accountability for the business that PBMs do in Mississippi.
In 2024, the Clarion Ledger identified that independent pharmacists on whole faced closures within the next few years if nothing was done to address what they described as unfair PBM business practices.
House Speaker Jason White said in a press release this week he is committed to ensuring some transparency and accountability is put on PBMs.
On Tuesday, Lamar told the Clarion Ledger that if push comes to shove, he would be happy if the governor calls a special session to fully eliminate the state income tax.
Both the House and Senate have passed bills to dramatically cut taxes in some areas and raise them in others. One major difference between the chambers' approach is that the House plan seeks to fully eliminate the income tax while the Senate seeks to only reduce it to 2.99%.
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For several weeks, rumors have been circulating that Republican Gov. Tate Reeves is mulling whether to call a special session to force the Senate to negotiate an income tax elimination. Reeves has gone on the record for being largely in support of the House plan.
Lamar said he and his colleagues are dead set on full elimination, and if the Senate doesn't like it, he's happy with suspending all other legislative business until some sort of agreement is made.
"I fully support the governor calling special session to highlight the need to eliminate our income tax for the future of Mississippi," Lamar said.
Grant McLaughlin covers state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at [e-mail] or 972-571-2335
This article originally appeared on Mississippi Clarion Ledger: MS politics: School choice bills advanced by State House again