Mississippi State Senator David Blount, spoke to the Rotary Club of North Jackson during its December 21, 2021 meeting. State Senator Blount, a Democrat who represents district 29, informed club members and guest the outlook for the upcoming legislative session. Senator Blount said the most important task in the session is spending the roughly 2 billion of federal COVID money for one time usage. The state also has a little less than 2 billion in the bank and the rainy day fund is full. Issues effecting Jackson that are his top priority are, fixing the water and sewer issues and crime and public safety. Other cities in the state also need water and sewer updates. Another issue he hopes to tackle for Jackson is getting more prosecutors to help with the crime issues. Another issue facing the legislature is to restore the initiative process and pass the medical marijuana bill. Redistricting is another issue the legislature is facing. Senator Blount also said that the #1 issue for Mississippi in his opinion, is expanding Medicaid. There is also talk about eliminating the state income tax according to Blount. One third of the state revenue of the 6 billion general budget, comes from income tax collections according to Senator Blount. The Legislative session starts January 4th, 2022. Shown in the photo below is Senator Blount and Club President Uriel Pineda. Here is the link to the video of the meeting https://vimeo.com/659784057.
