Sun Herald from Biloxi, Mississippi • 9

wwwsunheraldcom MISSISSIPPI Friday January 9 2004 A 9 leaders visit lawmakers Tort reform education worker training top list provide invaluable contacts with state lawmakers He said while he was there state Rep Diane Peranich of DeLirie put him in touch with a prospect for a new business for Harrison County Olivier said he and other South Mississippi leaders are pushing legislators to pass a bill this session as other states have done to provide more venture capital for entrepreneurs This would redirect some of the fees insurance companies pay from the state general fond to a registered capital corporation which would distribute venture capital to small businesses and entrepreneurs Rep Danny Guice of Ocean Springs introduced such a proposal last session that died in the Senate and says he may push the same again this session always somebody out there with the idea for a better Guice said recently just have the capital to make it a Both Olivier and one of his contemporaries in Jackson County chamber President Terry Carter have said the South Mississippi business community is also pushing legislators to do away with the state inventory tax this session the surrounding states have eliminated inventory Olivier said archaic and brings in very little revenue There is an exemption to the taxes and besides they are counted once a year in January so companies just get rid of their inventory before then But when in competition with other states for industry you have to say We have an inventory tax but we really Why play that BY GEOFF PENDER THE SUN HERALD JACKSON Hundreds of business leaders including many from South Mississippi spent a day at the capital on Thursday for the Mississippi Economic annual legislative day meeting with lawmakers and developing the MECs legislative agenda for the 2004 session Gulfport businessman Gene Warr a member of the MECs legislative committee said business leaders plan to push the state Legislature this year to: Fund education at 62 percent of the general fond as it did last year something we cannot afford not to Warr said Have the state's Eric Clark and other state leaders spoke to the MEC group on Thursday important we continue to fight to make sure we have a business climate in our state that makes people want to come to Tuck said promising further tort reform She said she will push for a $250000 cap on noneconomic lawsuit damages and provide more protection for businesses from lawsuits McCoy has been noncommittal on more tort reform in the House but promised MEC members that want to do those things as best we can in state government to help you make a Harrison County Economic Development Director Michael Olivier said events community college system administer Mississippi's workforce training fond and consider consolidating some workforce training programs Consider consolidation of some school districts least the ones that don't manage to meet the tests and requirements we have for Warr said have so many school districts in this Pass more tort refoim Warr said state business leaders and MEC will likely lobby House members on tort reform this session LL Gov Amy TUck who prerides over the Senate and many senators have promised to push more tort reform but the House has been less receptive to the idea TUck Speaker of the House Billy McCoy Secretary of State Clark to push election reform New speaker vows open conferences Federal money to enforce might be available By GEOFF PENDER HIE SUN HERALD JACKSON Secretary of State Eric Clark plans to push for sweeping election reforms this legislative session in part because federal funding may be available to implement them Clark said voter rolls in many Mississippi counties are foil of people have died moved away or gone to A study he pushed for five years ago showed that 44 of the 82 counties more registered voters than people on Problems like these he said leave too much room for voter fraud Past efforts at reform failed in part Clark said because there was no money to fix problems But the federal Help America Vote Act spawned by problems in Florida with the 2000 presidential election could if folly funded provide Mississippi $34 million to buy new voting machines start a statewide voter registration database that would keep county rolls updated and make other improvements Clark speaking to business leaders at the Capitol for the Mississippi Economic annual legislative day also promised to help lawmakers find common ground in the fight over voter identification One side says voter ID could eliminate fraud but the other remembers days when Mississippi used voter regulations to keep black people from voting and is leery of new regulations One thing Clark didn't mention in his speech to the MEC was campaign finance reform But afterward he said that was just because he ran out of time office is going to introduce a campaign finance bill to deal with technical he said we are going to get into the issue of undisclosed issues Clark said he would also work with the Legislature on clarifying state laws on candidates disclosing sources of campaign funds an issue that came to the fore last year after LL Gov Amy Tilde had failed to reveal the source of a $500000 campaign loan She disdosed the source only after being sued by The Sun Herald Tuck has promised to push for campaign finance reform after the firestorm over her campaign finances Clark said that those issues came up in the mind it should be addressed but frankly I think the law already addresses loans and requires reporting st In --j Jj- LEGISLATIVE Barbour names developer to head MDA C-7 Tuck other statewide officials take oaths By SHELIA HARDWELL BYRD THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JACKSON Ii Gov Amy Tuck who along with six other statewide elected officials took the oath of office on Thursday stressed bipartisan cooperation in the 2004 Legislature must not care who gets the credit for accomplishments we must be open-minded and welcome debate and work Tuck told a Capitol crowd that included US Sen Trent Lott R-Miss Gov-elect Haley Barbour and Evelyn Gandy first woman lieutenant governor Tuck who switched to the Republican Party in 2002 introduced House Speaker Billy McCoy D-Rienzi as her friend "I absolutely believe he is the right man at the right time for all the right Tuck said In her speech Tuck said she wanted to continue efforts to improve education and health care and address civil justice changes The other officials taking the oath for four-year terms were Attorney General Jim Hood Auditor Phil Bryant Secretary of State Eric Clark Treasurer Tate Reeves Agriculture Commissioner Lester Spell and Insurance Commissioner George Dale Barbour win be inaugurated next Tuesday Hood and Reeves were the only elected officials who wiU be serving a first term The ceremony was interrupted by the collapse of Rep Tommy Woods R-Byhalia Woods waved as he was carried away on a stretcher TUck later said he was in stable condition at the University of Mississippi Medical Center Lawmaker stable after collapsing during ceremony THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JACKSON State Rep Tommy Woods R-Byahlia was in stable condition Thursday after collapsing on the House floor during a swearing-in ceremony for several state officials Woods 70 was taken by ambulance to the University of Mississippi Medical Center He collapsed while LL Gov Amy TUck was taking her oath to start her second term When other lawmakers realized there was a problem the session was recessed while a doctor was rushed into the House chamber to tend to Woods Legislators and onlookers remained in the House chamber until Woods was wheeled out on stretcher He waved and shook a few hands on the way out Woods 70 is a cotton gin operator who has served in the House since 1988 Officials said the nature of his health problem was not Immediately known By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JACKSON New House Speaker Billy McCoy told a business group Thursday that under his watch the Mississippi House will conduct business in the open unless people get pushy with conference committee members McCoy said meetings of subcommittees committees and conference committees generally will be open to the public going to be very protective of our conferees And as speaker I don't want conferees messed McCoy I)-Rienzi told about 200 members of the Mississippi Economic Council who were visiting the Capitol committees will be closed if conferees are interfered McCoy said Conferences are conducted at the end of each session to work out final compromises on bills Sometimes proposals that had not been part of deliberations are added in conference Conference committees were closed for decades in Mississippi and remain generally closed in Washington Legislators smoking in By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS THE ASSOCIATED PRESS JACKSON Mississippi lawmakers who want to get their nicotine fix will have to leave the House and Senate floors to light up New rules adopted this week prohibit smoking in the two chambers making lawmakers follow the same rules that most state employees and visitors to state buildings have had to follow for years Legislators limited smoking in the Capitol in 2000 but still allowed members to light up in designated areas in the House and Senate chambers and in some offices Some die-hard smokers say fine with the new ban on cigarettes in the chambers Others say have a tough time don't like having to walk Actually it is a traditional way of banking Its bankers with strong roots in the community who are ready to help you Come join us in celebrating the grand opening of our newest location of Coast Community Bank in Orange Grove Open any new Coast Community Bank personal checking or savings account at the new Orange Grove Office and choose one of these special offers In 2000 Mississippi lawmakers were roundly criticized after a closed conference sweetened the legislative retirement package Vague explanations of the final version of the bin were given on the House and Senate floors The retirement perks were later rescinded in a special session In 2001 the state House and Senate voted to open conference committees for general bills but allowed conferences on spending bills to remain closed During a 2002 special session on changes to the civil justice system business people lobbyists journalists doctors lawyers and others packed committee rooms to watch the deliberation of conferees three members from the House and three from the Senate Some lawmakers complained that lobbying groups on both rides of the civil justice issue were heavy-handed The provirions requiring open conferences expired last month with the end of the past legislative term However McCoy and LL Gov Amy Tuck both said this week that they support keeping conferences open prohibit chambers off the floor to smoke because sometimes you lose out on the Rep Bennett Malone D-Carthage said as he took a drag on one of his last in-chamber cigarettes Wednesday Some nonsmokers were thrilled Sen Ezell Lee D-Picayune is a former smoker who said he stand the smell of cigarettes now He applauded the change Hope gave me my first cigarettes" Lee said Lee was 17 and in the Army when he went to a Hope concert in Seattle Every soldier received two packs of Chesterfield cigarettes and Lee said he started smoking that day He said he quit cold turkey on OcL 21 1999 after his 4-year-old granddaughter asked him if he still smoked He said he and he lit up since to seat one of the candidates or call for a new election White said illegal ballots helped seal the election for Thomas who was declared the winner with 8926 votes to 8791 think it has to do with some problems in Hinds he said got Republican or Democrat wrote on this got sloppy The Senate currently has 29 Democrats and 22 Republicans An attorney opinion allowed 546 ballots in Hinds County Precinct 94 although not initialed by an election official to be counted as well as initialed ballots throughout the county LIFETIME 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