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Senator: Differences pervade on PSC budget |
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Friday, 10 July 2009 |
 Paul Sims/SDN State Sen. Gary Jackson, R-French Camp, prepares to speak during Thursday’s Power Breakfast at the Mississippi Horse Park outside Starkville. The state legislature convenes at 10 a.m. today in a special session to address the Public Service Commission’s budget. By PAUL SIMS
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The state Legislature will convene in special session today to iron out a solution to fund the Public Service Commission and a similar entity.
PSC and the Public Utilities Staff are the only state agencies which entered the new fiscal year July 1 without a budget.
At issue is the PSC’s desire to bring on board those with legal and accounting knowledge to evaluate the financial records of utilities.
The panel’s chairman, Lynn Posey, says it would cost the state less than $250,000 a year if the PSC were able to hire three new personnel.
House Democratic leaders back the idea, but Gov. Haley Barbour, a Republican, and Senate GOP leaders are against it, the AP reported.
State Sen. Gary Jackson, R-French Camp, spoke near Starkville Thursday at the Mississippi Horse Park, the host site for the Greater Starkville Development Partnership’s Power Breakfast. The Horse Park is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
In early remarks to the audience, Jackson said: “There is a myth that we love special sessions.”
After the event, Jackson said the next step will be for bills to be introduced in the House and Senate, “two different bills with two different philosophies.”
Jackson says he wants to visit with the commissioners again as well as Senate leaders to determine “what I feel to be the best route.”
The House and Senate convene today at 10 a.m. to address the PSC budget.
Jackson answered several audience questions on a variety of topics, including:
• Obesity. Last week, reports indicated Mississippi remains the most obese state in the nation. “It’s a serious problem. ... The link would have to be about behavior.”
• Whether budgets support the mindsets of education and economic developments are priorities. “Our goals are still to bring industry to Mississippi,” he said, noting that these aims haven’t changed due to budgetary restrictions.
• Social hosting, or allowing underage drinking in social situations. He said there are laws on the books which do allow someone to file suit.
• The Mississippi Delta region. Jackson noted that there are numerous study committees working on the region’s issues. “It’s been a hard shift from agriculture,” he said.
Jackson represents at least portions of Attala, Calhoun, Choctaw, Montgomery, Oktibbeha and Webster, Winston counties in the senate.
Editor’s note: The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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Last Updated ( Saturday, 11 July 2009 )
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