Sojourner reflects on last legislative session – Mississippi’s Best Community Newspaper

Sojourner displays on final legislative session

Printed 5:00 am Monday, September 5, 2022

NATCHEZ — Because the keynote speaker of Thursday’s Kiwanis assembly on the Natchez Grand Resort, Melanie Sojourner, District 37 senator and a Natchez native, mirrored on what she fears might be her final legislative session following the state’s redistricting plan.

Sojourner stated she publicly “butted heads” with the Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann over the brand new legislative districts, which mix many of the district now represented by Sojourner, a Republican, with that of Sen. Albert Butler of Port Gibson, a Democrat, to create a single majority-Black district.

Sojourner, who for 2 years has been awarded by the American Conservative Union for upholding conservative guarantees to voters, stated the brand new Mississippi legislative strains appear to assist Butler.

“I simply noticed it as an actual slap within the face to the voters of Southwest Mississippi,” she stated. “… We had been the primary Republican elected to get elected in Southwest Mississippi for the reason that mid-1800s, and it’s very possible we’ll be the final.”

Many gadgets handed this session that Sojourner stated she is personally happy with, together with a historic pay elevate for lecturers, a ban on instructing vital race idea in Mississippi’s public colleges and record-level funding of statewide restore for street, water and sewer infrastructure.

Sojourner stated she can also be proud to have been capable of codify a voter referendum that helps shield personal property homeowners’ rights in issues of public curiosity, akin to constructing tasks.

“We now have had some management previously in Mississippi who thought that simply since you personal a bit of personal property in case your neighbor can flip it right into a higher tax base worth then they need to have the ability to take it from you. I’m passionately in opposition to that,” Sojourner stated. “Thrice this session we had payments come ahead to permit the personal sector imminent area energy in Mississippi and thrice we needed to battle actually laborious to get these payments killed. … On the finish of the session when there was a variety of negotiation over a few big-ticket points, we had been lastly capable of move a invoice that codified a referendum the folks handed about 10 years in the past once we put into our structure the safety of personal property rights. That was a giant deal.”

Sojourner stated she isn’t so happy with different gadgets.

Throughout this session, legislators adopted a state earnings tax reformation that started as a repeal of the state earnings tax. Sojourner stated repealing the tax would enhance native economies, however not each legislator supported it.

“That concern took up many of the session,” she stated. “We lowered the tax burden however didn’t repeal it.”

Together with raises for Mississippi lecturers, a lot of different raises that Sojourner didn’t assist had been handed this 12 months.

“We truly in Jackson this 12 months gave pay raises to lots of people and to be upfront I didn’t assist most of them. I solely supported two: instructor pay raises and pay raises for legislation enforcement officers.

“We’re a time in our nation when a variety of issues are occurring and lots of people are struggling within the personal sector. I simply didn’t assume it was truthful to be giving public sector pay raises, particularly when management in Jackson introduced ahead pay will increase for each elected official within the state.”

Sojourner stated she was outspoken in her opposition to a invoice that the lieutenant governor’s workplace introduced ahead to lift legislators’ salaries.

“I believed that was loopy considering at the moment when so many households had come by way of the pandemic and companies had been struggling, how dare the officers give themselves a pay elevate? Thank goodness we had been capable of kill that one.”

Nonetheless, the Legislature did give a hefty wage improve to native elected officers state-wide, together with supervisors, she stated.

“Quite a lot of the native leaders, to their credit score, reached out and stated, ‘Hey, should you don’t need to vote for it, I don’t blame you,’” Sojourner stated.