The Parents' Campaign Pushing for House Bill 392
The Mississippi House of Representatives passed House Bill 392 yesterday. The bill would achieve the House Democrats' plan to limit the amount that can be cut from the budget ($374 million) and force the Governor to raid the rainy day fund of $50 million to shore up state agencies and use $61 million in federal stimulus money, both one-time money sources which Gov. Barbour and many other fiscal conservatives have emphatically opposed. Such notions play squarely in to Speaker Billy McCoy's theory of spend now, pray later.
State Democrats and their related special interest groups are now trying to rally support for HB 392. Just today, The Parents' Campaign sent out emails encouraging its readers to support HB 392 and to contact their Senators to support the bill as well. They even provided a list of who voted for and against the measure. Click here to view the vote record. Here's the email:
The House of Representatives passed today House Bill 392, a good alternative to Governor Barbour's request for additional budget cuts authority.Please thank our legislators who voted in favor of this bill. We will need your help to get this bill through the Senate.
House Bill 392 allows the governor to exempt from cuts the Department of Corrections, the National Board Certified Teacher supplement, the Ayers settlement, the Veteran's Affairs Board (Nursing Homes), the Chickasaw Cession, debt service, and the courts. It also requires that the governor use the $61-million in available ARRA funds and $50-million from the state Rainy Day Fund before making further cuts.
According to House Education Chairman Cecil Brown, the measures in this bill would leave only $13-million in cuts necessary to balance the budget. There is $48-million in cuts that can still be made before all agencies reach the 5% threshold (which education has already reached).Therefore, under this plan, no additional cuts would need to be made to the education budget.
We need to get this bill passed in the Senate. Please call your senator.Ask your senator to support HB 392 as it passed the House.
Your phone call will be very important. It could help us save our schools from devastating cuts. Please ask your friends and family to call too. Our kids are counting on us!
True to form, when the state Democrats struggle to get their way, they turn to beating the education drum and enlist their special interest groups to do their dirty work despite the realities at hand.
There continues to be a disconnect between the House leadership and Gov. Barbour as to just how dire the state's financial situation is now and could be in the near future. Also at issue here is the seven year tug of war: McCoy and his liberal boys versus Gov. Barbour.
The real question on this issue I believe is who do you trust more with the state budget: the state-wide elected, full-time fiscally conservative Governor who is seeking to uphold his constitutional duties for a balanced budget or district-elected, part-time House Democrat representatives who consistently bring to the table their own wish list of spend now, pray later programs? Can you guess who I side with?
Frank Corder,
Pascagoula City Councilman
