Officials stuck at impasse

The Clarion-Ledger, 3/30/9

Mississippi lawmakers preparing to recess the legislative session are in danger of repeating a familiar pattern: leaving the state Capitol without solving some key problems.

Lawmakers scheduled to leave Tuesday have not decided how to keep car-tag costs from rising this year. That’s a new problem compared to years-old issues they still haven’t resolved, such as finding a long-term funding compromise for Medicaid or for raising tobacco taxes to help pay for state services.

They plan to resume working in May or June, when they hope to know more about how federal stimulus dollars will help shore up a budget that’s expected to face mounting revenue shortfalls. Mississippi stands to receive $2.8 billion.