The 2022 will be one of the most important sessions the Mississippi Legislature will see in a long time as redistricting will be one of the major headlines of the session.
That issue is one of the top issues that Sen. Tyler McCaughn expects to be hotly contested. The 2020 Census data has been released, and state officials have been examining the data to see how it will affect redistricting.
However, McCaughn doesn’t expect that Newton County voters will see much change from the last redistricting from the 2010 census.
“First and foremost, the state faces redistricting on the state and federal level,” McCaughn said. “As far as District 31 goes, it appears that there will be little change to the overall structure of the district due to a very minimal reduction in population. Though we cannot know for sure until the final vote is cast, it is my hope that we can keep Scott and Newton Counties together as a whole along with the remaining population to come from surrounding counties.”
McCaughn believes this session will be met with “anticipation and hope as the state is blessed with abundant coffers.”
“From the tax collections to the federal funds raining down, I expect the legislature to have a tough row in figuring out how to divide funds,” McCaughn said. “It is often said that legislators fight more in years when funds are abundant than when the funds are scarce. I hope that we can power though those expectations.”
McCaughn also anticipates COVID and medical marijuana will also come back up.
“I expect the 2022 Legislature to take on Medical Marijuana fairly early in the session,” McCaughn. “As always, the Legislature and the Governor will have to continue to negotiate in order to find a mutually acceptable solution to the stalemate. In the end, I expect that the work of Sen. Blackwell and Rep. Yancy will provide a worthwhile product for those battling chronic illness.”
McCaughn, who is the Vice Chairman of the Senate Ag Committee, said he’s been working on in depth solutions to the grain elevator collapse in the Delta.
“Unfortunately, the financial collapse of this enterprise has impacted row crop growers statewide,” McCaughn said. “Senator Younger and myself continue to work to strengthen the laws to make sure that such a travesty never happens again. Additionally, there is much work going into a program aimed at assisting farmers who are impacted by such actions in the future.”
McCaughn is also serving as chairman of the Senate Forestry Committee after being appointed by Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann. He believes he can help represent his district’s interests in that area.
“As such, I am committed to growing this committee into a formidable advocate for the Forestry Industry in East Central Mississippi,” McCaughn said. “ East Central Mississippi has the timber, it has the highway, it has the railroads and it has the workers. All we need now is to secure the industries to build plants for lumber and secondary timber products in our area. As we move forward, I expect that we will look to make sites near shovel ready for future expansion both in East Central Mississippi and across our state. Forestry is a top industry in our state and employs people statewide.”
One of the other major areas of concern for McCaughn is the state’s judicial system.
“Lastly, I continue to look at concerns within our judicial system and how we can streamline certain areas,” McCaughn said. “I’ll be authoring certain bills to fix loopholes in our system and to make our system as efficient as possible,” McCaughn said.
“Overall, I expect that this session will see great strides made in legislation so long as the focus remains forward.”
