YP Daily Roundup 8/3/21

Stay up-to-date on what’s in the news with the Y’all Politics Daily Roundup. 

YP – Governor Reeves seeks additional $3,300 teacher pay raise

Governor Tate Reeves (R) proposed raising teacher pay $4,300 during his run for the state’s top office in 2019.  The Legislature moved that needle in the 2021 session with a $1,000 teacher pay raise, a bill the Governor was pleased to sign into law.

Reeves is now calling on lawmakers to pass a plan for the remainder of his proposal when the Legislature gavels back in come January 2022.

“All of you know that I am a strong fiscal conservative,” Reeves told the crowd at the Neshoba County Fair last Thursday. “Spending tax money on new things is not in my nature. But educational attainment is my priority. And it would be wrong for us to not demonstrate that we appreciate that Mississippi teachers out-did the rest of America during COVID.”

MSDH COVID-19 Reporting

Today MSDH is reporting 4,991 more cases of COVID-19 in Mississippi, 13 deaths, and 114 ongoing outbreaks in long-term care facilities. State #covid19 totals: 348,496 cases, 7,556 deaths, and 1,032,928 persons fully vaccinated. Full information: https://t.co/YCv9xPyJDk pic.twitter.com/DZNXEt44o1

— Mississippi State Department of Health (@msdh) August 2, 2021

YP – Auditor’s office finds potential for Medicaid beneficiary fraud in yearly Single Audit of federal funds

Auditor Shad White released the Single Audit of federal funds that are being used by Mississippi agencies. This audit will often show findings from previous individual audits but can also provide additional details regarding spending.

The auditors office specifically compared the income that Medicaid recipients reported to the Division of Medicaid with the income they reported on their state income tax returns.

“The use of these returns to figure out if people are lying to obtain benefits started last year in my office,” said Auditor White. “We now have enough data to show there are millions of dollars of potential savings if we can prevent ineligible people from getting on Medicaid. The benefits should only be going to those who deserve to be on the program.”

YP – Commission on School Accreditation Determines State of Emergency Exists in Holmes County School District

The Commission on School Accreditation determined today an extreme emergency exists in the Holmes County Consolidated School District (HCCSD) that jeopardizes the safety, security, and educational interests of the children enrolled in the schools in the district. As a result, the Mississippi State Board of Education will consider on August 3 whether to ask Gov. Tate Reeves to declare a state of emergency in the district.

The HCCSD is in violation of 26 of the 32 accreditation standards that all Mississippi public school districts are required to meet. The violations are documented in the On-Site Investigative Audit of Holmes County Consolidated School District, which the Mississippi Department of Education (MDE) conducted after the district reported severe financial issues. The MDE conducted the full investigative audit of all schools in HCCSD from April 27, 2021 – July 23, 2021. The MDE conducted the full investigative audit because historically, districts that have faced serious financial issues have also had numerous accreditation violations.

YP – Thirteen Republican Governors file amicus brief with SCOTUS support of Mississippi’s 15-week abortion case

The thirteen Republican Governors supporting Mississippi’s Governor Reeves and AG Fitch called upon the Supreme Court to overturn its precedent allowing abortion by filing a brief in the case concerning Mississippi’s abortion ban.

“This challenge to Mississippi’s 15-week law presents the court with an opportunity to remedy those problems by reconsidering and overruling their source — Roe v. Wade and Planned Parenthood of Southeastern Pennsylvania v. Casey. Unlawful from the day each was decided, both have kept Amici States in continual litigation as the Court changes the constitutional test and rules,” according to the brief.

Governors from Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Iowa, Missouri, Montana, Oklahoma, Texas, and Utah joined South Carolina in signing onto the brief. Many of these states have already passed their own laws which heavily restricts abortion.

YP – Thompson: January 6 committee to send “quite a few” subpoenas soon

Last week, after a meeting with the January 6th committee, Chairman Congressman Bennie Thompson (D-MS02) told reporters in the U.S. Capitol that he is unsure if there would be a public hearing in August and the subject of the next hearing has not been determined as of now.

Thompson said to expect subpoenas to be issued soon. When asked how many subpoenas were to be expected, he said, “Quite a few.”…

…House Democrats on the committee are optimistic about securing testimony from former Trump officials.

President Joe Biden’s DOJ has allowed the committee to freely seek witness statements by vowing to not block former Trump administration officials from testifying.

YP – Wicker, Hyde-Smith introduce legislation to uphold Navigable Waters Protection Rule

Republican members of the Environment and Public Works (EPW) Committee joined together to introduce S.2567. This legislation would provide clarity for farmers and business that had been strained by regulations related to the Clean Water Act.

On the first day of his administration, President Biden signed an executive order that would undo the Trump administration’s actions of rescinding Obama’s WOTUS rule which finalized the NWPR.

Back in January, the senators from Mississippi and their Senate colleagues introduced a resolution that communicates the need for the U.S. Senate to uphold the Navigable Waters Protection Rules (NWPR).