Bill McLeod then introduced today’s guest speaker, Missy Warren McGee, State Representative for Mississippi House District 102. She was elected in 2017 to fill the unexpired term of Toby Barker who was elected Hattiesburg’s mayor. Missy says she is one of 5 people to hold this seat since the mid-1960’s. The is the same seat that Evelyn Gandy was first elected to in 1948. Missy says there are 122 house members but only 17 are women.
District 102 represents most of Forrest County and a small portion of Lamar County. It is one of three districts in the state representing a major university.
Missy was sworn in in October 2017. She serves on the Public Health, Medicaid, Tourism, Transportation, and Apportionment and Election Committees. She hopes to be re-elected and reappointed to the Apportionment and Election Committee. That committee will redraw district lines after the 2020 census is completed.
In her first legislative session, she authored five bills. Three got out of the house but two died in the Senate. One was signed into law. It was legislation authorizing the University of Southern Mississippi to sell a piece of land.
The most important pieces of legislation passed this past session was in the special session, in Missy’s opinion. Three bills were passed that will begin sending money to cities and counties for infrastructure rebuilding. City and counties aren’t limited to just spending the money on roads and bridges. They can also use the funds for water and sewer improvements. Funding for this legislation is generated by a new sales tax on Internet purchases. The City of Hattiesburg is expected to receive $1.9 million within four years.
The legislation was passed that sends sports betting revenue to MDOT. And, the Legislature also passed a state lottery bill. Up to $80 million of the revenue generated through the lottery will go to infrastructure. Pre-K Education gets everything over $80 million.
The Legislature also reached an agreement on how the BP settlement money will be distributed. The six southern counties will receive 75% of the settlement. Other counties will split the remaining 25%. That money will be used to improve Hardy Street and also 38th Avenue.