JACKSON - Lawmakers returned to the Capitol today for their third special session of the year, and Gov. Haley Barbour said he expects a successful outcome for his economic development package.
"By successful, I mean to accomplish the ends and do it in a brief time," Barbour said Monday during a news conference at the Capitol.
The Momentum Mississippi package would give tax breaks to existing companies for expansions and extend to high-tech companies many of the incentives and breaks that manufacturers already receive.
The plan also would create programs that support increased productivity at existing businesses. The legislation would require $27 million in bonds.
The Momentum bill did not come up for a vote in the House during the regular session.
"We hope to be able to have a compromise by which we can go forward," House Speaker Billy McCoy said Monday of the special session.
McCoy, D-Rienzi, also said he hopes the governor will expand the call to include other bond projects that would benefit smaller municipalities.
"People call me on the phone at home. They don't know a thing about Momentum. They know about needing a job," McCoy said.
Two business leaders who helped craft the Momentum package joined Barbour at the news conference.
Anthony Topazi, president and chief executive officer of Mississippi Power Co., and Blake Wilson, president of the Mississippi Economic Council, said it is imperative that Mississippi realign its incentives programs for industry to keep the state competitive.
Topazi said the state is in a "growth crisis" as 34 out of 82 counties have seen a decline in employment over the last year and a half.
"We're growing 40 percent slower than the rest of the South. It is obviously something that we need…," Topazi said.
Barbour reiterated his promise to expand the special session once Momentum Mississippi is passed. However, the only three projects he cited on Monday were Northrop Grumman's continued shipyard expansion on the Gulf Coast, an expansion of Baxter Healthcare in Cleveland, and the B.B. King Museum in Indianola.
Barbour said the organizers in Indianola raised most of their funding for the $10 million museum on their own, setting a precedent he hopes other local communities will follow.
In the previous special session that ended May 28, the House tried to pass a Momentum bill that included dozens of local bond projects.
The bill drew sharp criticism from Barbour, who directed his staff to review every project listed in the bill. "And we've made a full report to both houses on what we've found. And I think that's been useful," Barbour said.
McCoy said a pared down list of local projects approved by a House committee was delivered to the governor on Monday, but he couldn't give an exact amount.
"We're still living with the complete faith that we'll be able to go forward," McCoy said.
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