BIPEC Grades Released - here's how Jones County lawmakers fared

*Appeared in the Laurel Leader-Call newspaper 

The Mississippi Business and Industry Political Education Committee (BIPEC) “Business & Jobs” scorecard was recently released.  The scorecard assigns “grades” to legislators based on their pro-business and job creation votes.

As is the case with any grading system, the scorecard can sometimes cause a bit of a kerfuffle among legislators who disagree with the scoring process.  This year was no different, as no member of the Mississippi House of Representatives earned an “A” rating.

In its scorecard release, BIPEC explained that “many in the House of Representatives were negatively affected in their BIPEC grade” due to two key votes taken on tax issues during the legislative session.

House Bill 1439 and Senate Bill 2971 both contained tax cuts – but they also contained tax increases that would negatively impact business, BIPEC leadership concluded.  These two votes managed to keep any representative – no matter how pro-business – from earning a top score on this year’s report card.

With that context, let’s examine how Jones County legislators fared in the pro-jobs scorecard.  In the Senate, both Sens. Chris McDaniel (a Republican from Ellisville) and Juan Barnett (a Democrat from Heidelberg) earned a rating of “B.”  That’s pretty good… or is it?

For Sen. McDaniel, a Republican, it’s a mixed bag.  Sen. McDaniel was one of just 8 Republicans to earn a “B,” while the rest of the Republican members scored the top ranking of “A.”  Sen. McDaniel was marked among those “absent and those not voting” for two pro-business pieces of legislation: Senate Bill 2024, which provides certain procurement relief for many entities, and the so-called “mFLEX” proposal, an economic development bill that would have combined some of the most commonly used tax credits into one easy-to-use incentive.  

Sen. McDaniel’s score also suffered from his no vote on changing the state flag design.  According to BIPEC, “the old flag put us at a disadvantage” because of its negative impact on the state’s perception.  Voters in the Free State of Jones must agree with that mindset, as they voted some 58.8 percent to adopt the new Mississippi flag design in 2020.  (Statewide, nearly 73 percent of Mississippians voted in favor of the new flag.)

As a Democrat, however, Sen. Juan Barnett’s score of “B” is pretty high.  He was among the top-rated Democrats in the Senate, and his Democrat counterpart in the House of Representatives, Omeria Scott, earned a score of “D.”  Sen. Barnett voted mostly in favor of the pro-jobs bills, with the exception of legislation that would have raised the weight limit for harvest permits (an important bill for the poultry industry in Jones County that Sen. Barnett voted against) and legislation that would have prevented employers from requiring job applicants to disclose if they have been convicted of a felony crime (that Sen. Barnett voted for). 

Jones County House members Donnie Scoggin and Robin Robinson both scored a rating of “B,” in large part due to their votes on the aforementioned tax bills that would have resulted in some tax increases on businesses.

The BIPEC scorecard isn’t flawless, but it’s a good way to monitor whether your legislators are prioritizing economic growth or voting with the status quo.  In my opinion, legislators should embrace policies that promote economic development and job creation in order to move our state forward – and their votes ought to reflect this as a priority.