JACKSON — Mississippi lawmakers still have more to consider before they conclude a special session, with Gov. Phil Bryant on Tuesday widening the session to include debate on how to divvy up $700 million in oil spill damages.
“House and Senate Leadership have notified me that there is an agreement in principle,” Bryant wrote on Twitter.
BP PLC is paying a total of $750 million to Mississippi through 2033 to make up for lost tax revenue from the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. Lawmakers have already spent $52.4 million of the money, but nearly $100 million is sitting in the bank and 15 yearly payments of $40 million a year will begin in 2019.
Overall, Mississippi is likely to get more than $2.4 billion from all sources to pay for environmental and economic damages from the spill.
The Legislature has been stymied in previous attempts to divide the damage money, with one proposal collapsing at the end of the regular session earlier this year when House and Senate negotiators couldn’t agree. Gulf Coast lawmakers, in particular, are feeling the heat from business leaders and constituents back home who argue the lion’s share of the money should go to Mississippi’s six southernmost counties.
Senate Bill 2002 would give roughly 75 percent of money to Hancock, Harrison, Jackson, George, Stone and Pearl River counties and 25 percent to the remaining 79 counties. Of the nearly $100 million now in the bank, a majority would be used for special projects statewide that some deride as pork, while the remainder would go to coast projects.
Bryant also wants lawmakers to agree how to spend
$50 million put aside earlier for special projects in the bill sending aid to cities and counties for roads and bridges. Some of that special money may have been promised to lawmakers in exchange for votes on road aid and a lottery earlier in the session.
“I think, at the end of the day, everybody’s going to get some of that money and that’s the fair thing,” said Sen. Philip Moran, a Kiln Republican.
However, some inland lawmakers oppose the division, arguing the coast has no special claim to the money, since it was supposed to replace lost tax revenue that would have been spent in state budgets.
Republican Rep. Tracy Arnold of Booneville is circulating a proposal to divide the money among counties and cities based on their share of Mississippi’s population. He said his proposal is getting “overwhelming support” and predicted senators would feel pressure from city and county officials to approve it.
“I’m not going to settle for crumbs,” Arnold said, when asked about whether legislative leaders were using special projects to get non-coastal lawmakers to vote for the bill. “My people sent me down here to sit at the table.”
However, senators could pass their bill and adjourn, leaving the House with only a choice to accept the Senate’s version or reject it.
Also at issue is who will make the spending decisions. Coast leaders have called for some way to make sure the money is used for high-impact projects. Gulf Coast Business Council CEO Ashley Edwards, for example, is critical of the decision to finance the state’s bicentennial celebration out of BP money.
The Mississippi Development Authority would run an application process for the Gulf Coast money, prioritizing projects that would create jobs. Lawmakers would approve grants recommended by MDA each year. MDA could approve loans.
Wiggins said lawmakers had refused to put some other body outside of state government in charge of the coast’s portion of the money. “I think that ship has sailed,” he said.
Lawmakers would appear to control the non-coast money directly each year.
