JACKSON– One of Gov. Phil Bryant’s top priorities, a plan to divert $50 million in unemployment taxes into a worker training fund, may have died in the shuffle of the closing days of the 2015 legislative session.
House and Senate negotiators couldn’t reach agreement Monday, the deadline to file a final version of Senate Bill 2457. Bryant hinted Tuesday he might ask lawmakers to reconsider in a special session.
“This bill is important to Mississippi workers and is a top priority for the Mississippi Economic Council,” Bryant spokeswoman Nicole Webb said. “The governor is continuing to work to find a solution and has the authority to call a special session if he chooses to so do.”
Sen. Terry Burton, R-Newton, announced to his Senate colleagues Tuesday afternoon that the Legislature could end the three-month session Wednesday, a few days early. With that possibility looming, it appears increasingly unlikely that the worker training measure will be revived.
The proposal had been hammered out early in the session to divert $25 million a year for two years from Mississippi’s unemployment tax fund. Because the fund has plenty of money right now, the diversion could be made without raising unemployment taxes on companies.
Bryant said the proposal would make Mississippi more economically competitive by providing more well-trained workers for employers to hire.
But the bill ran off the tracks in last-minute negotiations.
With an $555 million tax cut plan having been killed by House Democrats, Republican Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves proposed rejiggering the unemployment tax plan to cut levies on employers by $35 million over two years, providing $10 million to worker training the first year and then $5 million every year thereafter, as long as the fund remains healthy.
The House, for its part, sought $3.2 million in money to fund vocational education in K-12 schools.
Each side rejected the other’s proposals, despite efforts by leaders of the Mississippi Economic Council, the state’s chamber of commerce, to broker a compromise.
“The House again killed a tax cut,” said Laura Hipp, Reeves’ spokeswoman.
Rep. Donnie Bell, R-Fulton, said House members rejected the Senate plan because it sharply cut the amount of money going to worker training.
“I just think our state needs to make a commitment to workforce development,” he said.
Bell said Bryant told him he might consider the issue for inclusion in a future special session but wouldn’t call a session just for the bill.
Only a governor can call a special session, and Reeves said Tuesday that he had not had time to talk to Bryant about the possibility of Bryant’s calling one.
“If we’re going to have a special session, I would hope the first item we would take up is comprehensive tax relief for Mississippians,” Reeves said.
Online: Senate Bill 2457: http://bit.ly/1MvBNwa
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