JACKSON - Life for many Mississippians is different following this year's legislative session.
Lawmakers passed bills that affect citizens' health care, auto insurance policies and access to cold medicine. There were also bills allowing religious writings to be posted in public buildings, creating a commission to study the state's funding formula for schools and improving the juvenile justice system.
What legislators didn't do was agree on a spending plan for state government for the fiscal year beginning July 1 - their greatest responsibility.
Also noteworthy of the 2005 session was Gov. Haley Barbour's broadening influence over the legislative process.
Many view a governor's powers as weak under the Mississippi Constitution, with most policy development authority given to the Legislature.
But this session, the Republican Barbour was able to block a House effort to pass a cigarette tax and a fee bill by reminding the GOP in the Senate of his opposition to taxes - a mantra shared by some Democrats in that chamber and some Republicans in the House.
Barbour routinely dismissed other bills, namely campaign finance, choosing not to even publicly discuss legislation that would require more disclosure on who's giving what to candidates.
With the Senate and House unable to agree on a budget, Barbour now wields more control over agency spending decisions as he prepares to call a special session.
"Never has it been like this. Haley Barbour has found a way outside the confines of the constitution to make his office a player in all this," said Marty Wiseman, director of Mississippi State University's Stennis Institute for Government.
Wiseman said the special session, which has not yet been set, will give Barbour "immense power. You're watching history."
House Speaker Billy McCoy, D-Rienzi, said he was disappointed about the budget stalemate, but lawmakers should be commended for addressing the Medicaid crisis.
The health care program that serves 780,000 underprivileged Mississippians was on the verge of running out of money. Barbour called a special session in mid-March to force lawmakers to come up with a plan to restore the program to solvency.
The solution: Borrow $240 million from the shrinking health care trust fund, a repository for most of Mississippi's tobacco lawsuit payments, and repay the money with interest over several years.
Contributing to Medicaid's money woes was the reinstated coverage for some 50,000 people who were supposed lose benefits in October 2004.
Last fall, health care advocates sued over the 2004 legislative action eliminating the Poverty Level Aged and Disabled category, and a federal judge issued an order restoring their benefits until lawmakers could act.
Though lawmakers had vowed to reinstate the PLAD category early, that didn't happen until the special session. PLAD recipients will receive those benefits until January, when the federal Medicare program starts full-fledged coverage for prescription drugs.
With the reinstatement came other optional service cuts in Medicaid, which has grown tremendously over the years. Now, Medicaid recipients have tighter restrictions on in their number of prescriptions, emergency room visits and home health care visits.
The reduced services are designed to help contain program costs and went into effect when Barbour signed the bill. Most other new laws take effect July 1.
"We worked hard on the Medicaid situation," McCoy said. "I believe when we get through with all of the appropriation (bills), that will be a very strong plus."
The lack of a budget has left schools in limbo. Districts must offer teachers contracts by April 15.
"Without a firm budget, they won't know the parameters in which they are working. This reduces effectiveness and efficiency," said state Education Superintendent Henry Johnson.
Public education was the main sticking point in budget talks. The House wanted to fund K-12 as close as possible to its $2 billion request. The chamber passed a 50 cents-per-pack cigarette tax and some fee increases to generate $175 million in revenue for the state.
The tax and fees were rejected in the Senate, where Lt. Gov. Amy Tuck said her chamber didn't want to fully fund education at the peril of other state agencies.
The biggest economic-development measure of the session was the $110 million package of grants and loans for SteelCorr Inc. The company is building a steel mill in Lowndes County that is expected to employ about 450 people.
Rep. Jeff Smith, D-Columbus, said officials in north Mississippi are in the process of calculating SteelCorr's tax contributions.
"Going to church here, practicing law, there's seems to be a spirit of optimism," Smith said of the Golden Triangle area of Columbus, Starkville and West Point. "People are just tickled to death to have some good economic news."
Many people may soon be spending more on auto insurance.
Barbour signed a bill that, starting next Jan. 1, increases from $5,000 to $25,000 the amount of liability insurance coverage required to pay for damages to vehicles and other property in an accident.
The law also raises from $10,000 to $25,000 the coverage needed to pay for injury or death of one person, and would increase from $20,000 to $50,000 for injury or death involving two or more people.
The law's passage comes just as Edwin Lott, 27, of Jackson is ready to renew his insurance policy. Lott normally carries minimum coverage. "With gas and everything going up, it's really going to take a toll on my life," Lott said.
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