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Highlights from Mississippi Conservative Coalition Retreat 2008
Here’s a photo gallery of the recent Mississippi Conservative Coalition Retreat
Sine Die
On the Governor’s call for a Special Session, the Mississippi Legislature convened at 10:00 a.m. on July 10th to fund the Mississippi Public Service Commission and Mississippi Public Utilities Staff. Yesterday’s post gave a brief explanation of how the PSC went unfunded during the June 28th Special Session.
This morning, after much debate, the House passed a bill by a vote of 72 to 41 which added three new positions to the PSC staff. In the Senate, this bill was amended to remove the new positions, but to provide additional funding (some $280,000) to fund three existing but un-filled positions. Another provision of the bill is that the PEER Committee will conduct research into best practices for public utilities regulators and report back to the Legislature with recommendations, if any.
All three Public Service Commisssioners agreed with the Senate amendments to both the PSC and Public Utilities Staff bills, and the House concurred in the amendment. Thus, the Special Session that began this morning was concluded by 3:45 p.m. this afternoon, and the House of Representatives adjourned Sine Die.
As a sidelight, one interesting development today: a bill was presented in the House to take $8.2 Million from the Health Care Trust Fund to pay matching dollars for mental health crisis centers around the State. This issue had not been included in the Governor’s call for a Special Session. However, on point of order made by Rep. Jim Ellington, the Speaker made a ruling from the Speaker’s stand that the bill was properly before the House. Ultimately the bill passed the House with 65 votes; however, there were 57 members who did not cast a vote as they felt the bill was not properly before the House. In the Senate, the bill was not taken up as it was not included in the Governor’s call.
Special Session II
Governor Barbour has called a Special Session for Friday, July 10, at 10:00 a.m. for the purpose of funding the Mississippi Public Service Commission. Last week during the three-day Special Session that began on June 28th, the Legislature funded all State agencies expect the PSC. The PSC’s and the Public Utilities Staff’s appropriations bills died after being held on motions to reconsider for the purpose of adding several new positions as requested by the PSC.
Welcome To Our New Website!
Thank you for taking the time to stop by and visit our new website! We’ve made a significant leap forward in technology that will allow us to update the site more often and provide a better means of communicating with our members and the general public. And this is only the beginning! We will be adding new features as time goes by including but not limited to audio, video and other types of media.
This new site includes a full membership with contact information and other details for each member of the Mississippi Conservative Legislative Coalition; the latest copy of our approved By-laws; links to various media and governmental websites; and a very easy way to contact us using our Contact Us page.
We believe this new website will be easier to use, more efficient and will encourage members and the public to come back often to see what our agenda is and how we are affecting public policy. If you have any questions, suggestions or comments, feel free to let us know!
Rep. Brian Aldridge
President,
Mississippi Legislative Conservative Coalition
Conservative Values
Conservative values are based upon the belief that, as a free people, individual liberty is our greatest inheritance. The greatest threat to individual liberty is the growth and centralization of governmental power and the exercise of that power through regulation and taxation.
The stated purposes of the Mississippi Legislative Conservative Coalition, as set forth in its Bylaws, are “to influence the adoption of conservative legislation in the Mississippi Legislature, and to promote on a bipartisan basis conservative principles of limited government, free enterprise, individual liberties, and strong traditional families, at all times consistent with the progress of our state and with the well-being of our fellow Mississippians.”
