EDITORIAL/Legislative greed
Mississippi lawmakers shredded the state Constitution and ignored their own rules when they took control of $1.25 billion in federal coronavirus relief last week.
We don't have time to wait for 174 legislators to "take weeks and weeks and months and months to keep arguing" over the money and where they want it to go, as Gov. Tate Reeves argues.
The coronavirus knows no boundaries and we don't know how fast it might spread, yet we have high hopes this scourge will be snuffed out by the Mississippi heat and we can regain some sense of normalcy on the long road to recovery.
Help in the meantime will be slowed down to those in most immediate need because of the Legislature, as good as their intensions are.
The hastily-arranged vote by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Phillip Gunn is power politics at its worst.
Gov. Haley Reeves Barbour and his executive power during Hurricane Katrina tells the whole story of getting things done quickly, efficiently and honestly for Mississippi.
We need not say one more word about the power of the executive branch in a time of crisis. But Hosemann downplayed the COVID-19 impact when he said "it's not like we have a Katrina event here."
Everyone knows that the impact of the corona statewide is far worse than Katrina.
A hurricane makes landfall one day and recovery begins the next. We have people afraid to leave the house for how long?
A governor can get money much faster to our fellow Mississippians who need it the most such as barbers, hair stylists, gym owners and other small business owners.
"They're going to do what legislators do and cut deals," Reeves said. "And they're going to divvy it up." He's right!
This is indeed power politics at its worst.
When legislators rush back with less than one day's notice and don't read the bill, they make mistakes. In fact, they make really big mistakes.
The Legislature has not even sent a bill. "They've sent us a piece of paper," Reeves argues, going on to make legitimate Constitutional points.
Reeves has blown up Hosemann's Constitution claims. Just listening to the governor's attention to detail about how disasters work versus seeing Delbert's vague social media graphic memes says it all.
For example, one important rule set forth in the Constitution is that the Legislature is required to spend one full day in session such that every legislator has the right to reconsider their actions.
And, oh boy, do they need to do that!
"They can not send a bill to me unless they do so," the governor argues.
"Every, single legislator has a constitutional right to hold a bill on a motion to reconsider the day after it passes," Reeves said.
Just because they're in a hurry to "steal the money" doesn't mean that that constitutional right is ignored, he said.
Citing the state Constitution, he said, "All votes on the final passage of any measure shall be subject to reconsideration for at least one full legislative day…"
"That's the Constitution that should apply," he said and we agree.
He cited Rule 126 of the Mississippi Senate that says, "When a question has once carried in the affirmative or negative it shall be in order for any Senator to enter a motion for the reconsideration thereof."
He went on to cite Rule 127 that says, "No motion to reconsider a vote shall be entertained unless it be properly entered on the same day on which such vote was taken or on the next succeeding legislative day on which a quorum is present."
The Mississippi Senate must come back to give senators the right or the bill is not properly before the governor.
"They didn't do that. They rushed in, they rush out, they left town and they want to wait weeks before they come back to start the process of budgeting the CARES Act," the governor said.
They may come back May 18, a good two weeks, Reeves said, and that means they've not done anything to get money in the hands of Mississippians who are in the most need.
He went on to say the Legislature can ignore its own rules but noted the legislative process is "supposed to be slow." They are supposed to take time and consider their actions, he said.
We agree. Be deliberate, but don't be greedy.
If this were about following the Constitution, they would have followed the Constitution. The Constitution is not a cute, funny Dilbert Facebook meme.
If they can't follow the Constitution, how can we expect 174 legislators to follow the Treasury guidelines?
If they fail, we will lose money because unappropriated funds have to be returned to Treasury. The Legislature may not be able to allocate monies fast enough.
The comments and innuendoes made by Hosemann against the Governor and Speaker Gunn's terse words scream how tone deaf they are to the needs of the people.
We call for a motion to reconsider.