The 2017 Mississippi regular legislative session ended March 29. Below is a summary of bills impacting our small businesses and business in general, including those that have been signed into law or that died.
Gov. Phil Bryant has also called a brief Special Session to begin on June 5, 2017, to address some leftover agency appropriation bills (MDOT – Department of Transportation; and Attorney General’s Office) and other possible issues which will likely include bridge and road repair funding as well as a lottery, if the Governor so chooses.
Speaker Philip Gunn recently came out with a list of 7 options that he presented Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves, asking him to consider as possible options for funding bridge/road maintenance. They include:
Local Option Fuel Tax (LOFT)
- Local governments will be allowed to put to a direct referendum a local fuel tax up to 11 cents/gallon, to be collected and used by the local government for local road and bridge repair and maintenance only.
- Must have inner local agreements between cities and counties. All the money stays at the city and county level.
Gaming Sinking Fund (GSF)
- $36 million is generated in GSF on an annual basis. $16 million is obligated to paying off bond debt. The House would propose to use $8 million of the remaining $20 million to service a $100 million revenue bond issue to be paid over 20 years for the purpose of road and bridge repair/maintenance in gaming counties and those adjacent counties.
New Road Moratorium
- Where construction has not already begun, unless right-of-way acquisition has occurred
MDOT Removed from State Personnel Board
- Remove MDOT from State Personnel Board. The House proposes giving MDOT lump sum funding for MDOT operations (salaries, etc.), demanding savings and efficiencies, prioritizing spending and ultimately right-sizing the agency.
At the end of the 2016 Regular Session, the House offered the Senate several options that would have helped the effort. Moving forward toward the Special Session, the House would like to continue to put forward those ideas with slight changes to address Senate concerns. They are outlined below:
Revenue Growth Trigger: When our state general fund revenue grows more than 2% in one year, 50% of those dollars beyond the 2% growth (up to a max of $100 million) will be devoted to road and bridge improvement under the same formula as above.
Bond Issuance: $50 million for bridge repair & maintenance to be distributed:
- 50% to assist municipalities for bridge repair/maintenance.
- 50% to assist counties in paying costs for bridge repair/maintenance.
Voluntary Online Sales Tax Allocation: Certain companies are already voluntarily remitting sales tax on sales they make over the internet. Of these voluntary payments, the House proposes to send the first $50 million to the General Fund as it currently does. Of the amounts paid to the State over $50 million and up to $250 million, these dollars would be dedicated to repair/maintenance of roads and bridges. This is not a new tax. Those who oppose our plan have not produced any evidence to support claiMississippi that this is a new tax. The House has deleted any sort of federal law change or Supreme Court ruling as an additional trigger. All monies collected over the $50 million will be distributed as follows:
- 50% to MDOT if they internally reallocate $25 million in their existing budget to prioritize road and bridge repair.
- 25% to counties for roads and bridges
- 25% to municipalities for roads and bridges
NFIB-Mississippi supported bills, signed by the governor
- HB 528 – Commercial fertilizer distributors; change reporting of net tonnage requirement from quarterly to once annually. Passed House 121-0 & Senate 52-0.
- HB 686 – Income and sales tax; taxpayer may request revision of tax return or assessment within three years after due date or assessment date. Passed House 119-0 & Senate 52-0.
- HB 812 – Civil Asset Forfeiture; revise regulations regarding. Passed House 118-3 & Senate 51-0.
- Requires a judicial seizure warrant within 72 hours of seizure
- Establishes a central internet inventory of all seized properties in Mississippi
- Provides a means for an innocent citizen to retrieve their seized property
- HB1106 – Public contracts; require purchasing entities to allow contractors to submit bids electronically. Passed House as Amended 115-1 & in Senate as Amended 39-13. Conference Report Adopted in House 117-1 & Senate 45 to 7.
- HB1109 – Requests for proposals; provide standards for state agencies to follow regarding. Passed House as Amended 101-16 & Senate Amended 39-11. House Concurred in Senate Amendments 113-2.
- This new law, which gives all businesses greater opportunity to compete for state contracts, provides fair standards that most state agencies must follow regarding most contract offerings; requires postings on the state procurement portal and soliciting agency’s website; and requires reverse competitive bidding unless otherwise approved.
- NOTE: It doesn’t apply to contracts at any public university, college or school (k-12).
- HB1340 – Ad valorem tax; revise certain provisions regarding determination of true values of land used for agricultural purposes.
- Committee Substitute Passed House 116-2, & As Amended in Senate 52-0; Conference Report Adopted in House 120-0 & in Senate 51-0.
- To overcome annual increases levied in many tax jurisdictions in the valuation of agricultural lands and the resulting oppressive tax increases, NFIB joined with the Farm Bureau to support this lowering of the allowable annual increase to bring stability to farming and timber-growing businesses. The cap was lowered from 10% to 4% and takes effect for 2019.
- HB1425 – Occupational Board Compliance Act of 2017; create. Passed House as Amended 61-58, & in Senate as Amended 27-21. Conference Report Adopted in House 78-39 & in Senate 36-13.
- Providing fair competition regulatory reform, now the Governor, Attorney General and Secretary of State or their designees will have the combined authority to review regulations of occupational boards as a check and balance to ensure the fairness of such board’s regulations and reasonable requirements to acquire or maintain such licenses.
- This bill is to protect our state from lawsuit due to a prior court decision finding that unelected occupational boards composed of members of the occupation creates an anti-trust legal problem, and therefore a need exists for an elected and objective oversight official.
NFIB-supported bills that didn’t pass
- HB 131 & SB2447 – Department of Revenue; authorize to compromise and settle tax liabilities with taxpayers. HB 131 Passed House 119-0. DIED on Senate Calendar. SB 2447 DIED in a Senate Committee.
- Although our state constitution does not extinguish a debt to the state, this would for the first time allow DOR to take a lesser amount as a compromise settlement.
- HB 144 – Department of Revenue; will be liable for costs incurred by taxpayer due to department error in filing lien against taxpayer. Passed House 121-0. DIED in Senate Finance Committee.
- HB 481 – Medical expenses; define admissibility during trial. Passed House 63-56. DIED in Senate Judiciary A Committee.
- This bill limits liability to the “actual” medical costs paid and accepted as payment in full, and not the amount of medical expenses charged.
- HB 599 – Vocational education; provide additional funding to school districts demonstrating needed enhancements for. Passed House 116-3. Double-referred in Senate and DIED in Senate Education Committee without action.
- HB 639 – Theft; revise penalty when employee gives away merchandise. DIED in Judiciary B Committee without action. would have provided greater penalties.
- HB 642 – Shoplifting; revise penalties for. DIED in Judiciary B Committee without action. would have provided greater penalties.
- HB 722 – Cargo theft; provide for crime and penalties of. Passed House 109-9 & Passed As Amended in Senate 51-0, however, it DIED on House Calendar without a vote to Concur in the Senate Amendment or Invite Conference
- Created a criminal charge of cargo theft for stealing a trailer, etc. with cargo inside
- HB 743 – Organized retail theft; provide definition of. Passed House 108-7. DIED in Senate Judiciary B Committee (Double-Referred to Judiciary B & Corrections.
- Corrected a loophole in current law to ensure a ring of shoplifters can receive a felony conviction for multiple offenses.
- HB 753 – Nancy’s Law; create to provide remedies for investigation of vulnerable person abuse. Passed House 119-1 after being amended to include “Noah’s Law” which has been legislation the past two years of significant concern to NFIB/Mississippi related to restricting the sale of certain caffeine products; however, the amendment was the same as previously written by NFIB/Mississippi. After being double-referred in the Senate it DIED in Senate Judiciary A Committee without action. (NFIB/Mississippi SUPPORTED the NOAH’S LAW AMENDMENT as passed the House, but took no position on the “Nancy’s Law” provision.)
- “Noah’s Law” (HB 343 – DIED in House Drug Policy Committee without action.)
- The approved Amendment used NFIB/Mississippi’ language from last year to restrict its applicability to the prohibited sale of pure powdered caffeine with exceptions, and to restrict any local ordinances from placing severe restrictions and possible penalties on businesses selling certain caffeine products based on a totally unworkable standard.
- Approximately 14 local governments in Mississippi have passed a local ordinance placing severe restrictions and possible penalties on businesses selling certain caffeine products based on a totally unworkable standard. These were patterned after the original proposed, poorly written “Noah’s Law” legislation.
- HB 803 – Administrative Procedures Act; revise to allow small businesses to streamline adjudicatory proceedings. DIED in House Judiciary A Committee without action.
- HB 928 – Qualified Small Employer Health Reimbursement Arrangement Act; create. Passed House 117-2. DIED in Senate Finance Committee.
- this bill was a vehicle to benefit employers and employees regarding employer contributions to an employee’s HRA, if similar federal law is finalized prior to the legislative session’s deadlines.
- HB1313 – Sales tax; revise type of information used by Commissioner of Revenue when assessing tax liability in certain cases. DIED in House Ways & Means Committee without action.
- An NFIB/Mississippi requested bill to change the standard of evidence used by the Department of Revenue (DOR) in sales tax audits/billing from “any” evidence to “best” evidence, the same standard as required for income tax audits, and the same as the law used to be.
- DOR has used Facebook posts, newspaper articles and bank account balances as evidence to determine sales tax liability
- HB1452 – Local Privilege Tax law; authorize tax collectors to use electronic signatures and storage in connection with. Passed House 122-0. DIED in Senate Accountability, Efficiency & Transparency Committee.
- HB1616 & SB2940 – Income tax; authorize a state income tax credit for employers who pay the cost of a qualified wellness program.
- HB 1616 PASSED House 111-6; DIED in Senate Finance Committee as did SB 2940.
- HB1627, HB1628, HB1741 – Ad valorem tax; exempt certain business personal property from. All bills DIED in Committee.
- SB2110 – Franchise agreements; franchisor is not considered to be an employer under unless agrees to be in writing. Passed Senate 42-9. DIED in Ways & Means Committee.
- SB2932 – Ad valorem tax on inventory tax; exempt certain small businesses from.
- DIED in Senate Finance Committee.
- Phases in over 5 years a full exemption of inventory tax for businesses with annual net revenue of less than $2 Million.
Federal BALANCED BUDGET Constitutional Amendment Resolution:
- SC 549 – United States Constitutional Convention under Article V; apply for federal balanced budget consideration. Referred to Senate Rules Committee and DIED without action.
- this resolution is based on being limited to a Balanced Budget Amendment Convention under Article V of the U.S. Constitution)
- if this Resolution had passed, Mississippi would join 27 other states who have already passed a resolution for a Balanced Budget Amendment based on a U.S. Constitution Article V Convention, in hopes of getting the 34 states needed to accomplish same.
Of interest to small businesses, signed by the governor
- HB1426 – Asbestos Transparency Trust Act; create. Passed House 73-43. Passed Senate As Amended 33-18; Conference Report Adopted by House 71-44 & Senate 29-20.
- this bill sets a deadline for bringing these lawsuits that have lingered for years.
- SB2445 – Department of Revenue; authorize data match system to identify assets of obligors of the state held by financial institutions. Passed Senate 50-0; House Passed As Amended 108-4; Senate Concurred in House Amendment 52-0, then Gov. APPROVED.
- this authorizes banks and other financial institutions to voluntarily allow the DOR to access their accounts for verifying taxpayers assets for possible garnishment by the state for the payment of a tax liability.
Of interest to small businesses, but failed to pas
- HB 480 – Use tax; revise the definition of certain terMississippi for purposes of, distribute to municipalities portion of revenue collected from certain out-of-state sellers. Passed House 76-41. DIED in Senate Finance. (Referred to as the “INTERNET TAX” bill)
- this creates an economic tax nexus for out-of-state companies with no in-state physical nexus as a result of having over $250,000 of online sales from Mississippi; and with such nexus, requires such companies to collect the state’s use tax of 7%.
- there are significant questions as to the legality of this legislation under federal law.
- the bill also earmarks all funds collected for state and local government road infrastructure.
- CURRENT LAW: already requires all Mississippians to pay with their state tax return a use tax (same as state general sales tax) on all out-of-state purchases brought into Mississippi.
- NOTE: The Mississippi Department of Revenue has a contract with Amazon for them to collect and send in a Mississippi General Sales Tax on all Amazon products, but this doesn’t include non-Amazon products. There is also a separate DOR-proposed regulation to do the same thing as the legislation and a public hearing was held on Feb. 15, 2017.
- HB1076 – Growth and Prosperity Act; revise certain provisions. Passed House 122-0. DIED in Senate Finance.
- this would have allowed special zones to be created exempt from various government regulations, etc., similar to how Disneyworld was set up.
- HB1586 – Free port warehouse; revise property stored in that is eligible for exemption from ad valorem tax. Passed House 118-1. DIED in Senate Finance Committee.
- Expands our Mississippi free port warehouse property tax exemption to align our exemption with neighboring states
- HB1612 – Income and sales tax; job tax credit for supermarkets in economically distressed communities, sales tax exemption for materials.
- DIED in House Ways & Means Committee.
- HB1702 – Public School Donation Tax Deduction and Dedicated Use Act; create. Passed House as Amended 121-0. DIED in Senate Finance.
- authorizes designated gift donations to schools for a particular purpose/fund
- SB2104 – Income tax; authorize a credit for taxpayers that employ certain supervised offenders (criminal record). DIED in Senate Finance Committee.
- SB2669 – Outdoor advertisement signs; revise height requirement on those erected after April 15, 2008. Passed Senate 48-1 & House Amended 118-0; however, it DIED on Senate Calendar without a Vote to Concur or Invite Conference.
- grandfathered signs erected prior to April 15, 2008, as to height restrictions
- SB3019 – Ad valorem taxation; exempt certain personal property that produce tax revenue of $100.00 or less. DIED in Senate Finance Committee.
- would exempt a business from personal property tax on furniture, fixtures, equipment and inventory if they would owe $100 or less in taxes.
NFIB-opposed bills that didn’t pass
- HB 399 – Financial institutions service providers; authorize Commissioner of Banking to examine. Committee Substitute Passed House 115-4; Passed as Amended in Senate 52-0; DIED in Conference.
- HB 676 – Licenses; may be suspended if licensee is delinquent in paying a finally determined tax liability. DIED in House Judiciary A Committee without action.
- Would have suspended a taxpayer’s government-issued licenses – business & occupation licenses, hunting/fishing license, etc. – if delinquent paying a finally determined tax liability.
- HB 687 & SB2326 & SB2688 – Income tax; public community and junior colleges may collect debt by a set off against a debtor’s refund. HB 687 Passed House 104-14; Failed in Senate 23-24, then Reconsidered & Passed as Amended 32-16; then DIED in Conference.(NFIB OPPOSED Senate Amendment re: Hospitals, but NOT original bill authorizing community colleges to collect on educational debts)
- Senate Amendment allows Hospitals – public and private – to obtain a copy of a judgment debtor’s income tax returns
- Discriminates against pass-through tax and other business owners with a prior judgment.
- Allows the Mississippi Department of Revenue to retain a 10% collection fee.
- HB 689 – Fuel tax; increase the maximum amount of bond that is required to be posted by distributors of gasoline and special fuel. Recommitted to House Ways & Means Committee and DIED without action after originally passing that Committee.
- This would have raised the amount of surety bond required from the current maximum of $250,000 to a maximum of $1 Million.
- HB 699 – Department of Revenue (DOR); authorize to disclose certain taxpayer information to law enforcement entities. Recommitted to House Ways & Means Committee and DIED without action.
- Currently, DOR cannot release taxpayer info without a court order; this bill would have allowed DOR to do so based on its own regulations.
- HB 702 – Taxation; persons with certain ownership interests in corporations or LLCs are liable for taxes due from the corporation or LLC. DIED in House Ways & Means Committee without action.
- Would have held liable persons with certain ownership interests in corporations or LLCs for taxes due from such entity
- HB 959 – Commissioner of Revenue; authorize to appoint an attorney on his staff to prosecute crimes investigated by the Department of Revenue. Recommitted to House Ways & Means Committee and DIED without action.
- HB1062 -Military officers and employees; grant leave of absence from civil occupations in public or private business. Passed House 121-0 & DIED in Senate Committee.
- NFIB requested the bill’s author to amend the bill to mirror its requirements and exemptions to the federal USERRA law — Uniformed Services Employment & Reemployment Rights Act. The bill was inadequately amended to do that and therefore needed to be accurately amended in the Senate. The bill still had more stringent requirements on an employer than USERRA and therefore subjects our employers to two different laws that don’t coincide.
- HB1329 – Mississippi Children’s Cabinet; establish to coordinate services for children. Died on House Calendar without action. (NFIB/Mississippi OPPOSED the provision in the bill which did away with the Child Care Advisory Council at the Mississippi Department of Health. This Council is the only voice private child care providers have with ongoing regulations.)
- SB2249 — Expedited small claiMississippi; provide judicial proceeding. Passed Senate 51-0 & DIED in House Judiciary B Committee (Double-Referred to Judiciary B & Banking & Financial Services Committee. (OPPOSED by several business groups)
- SB2302 – “Ban the box;” facilitate post-incarceration employment opportunities for nonviolent felons. DIED on Senate Calendar after Passing two Senate Committees.
- The “Ban the Box” Section 2 of the bill would have kept employers from asking a job applicant about their criminal background prior to a face-to-face interview.
- SB2637 – Environmental Protection; restrict use of certain chemicals in food and food packaging. Referred to House Public Health & Welfare Committee and DIED in Committee without action.
- Would have regulated the use of certain chemicals in food products & food packaging; restricted the use of BISPHENOL A (BPA) in Food Packaging; required labeling of products with BPA; provided appropriate information to consumers about potentially harmful toxicants in foods; & provided a civil penalty for violations.
NFIB-opposed bills that died in committee
- creating a state minimum wage
- creating a state department of labor
- prohibiting employers from obtaining a job applicant’s criminal history
- removing the one-week waiting period for unemployment benefits
- requiring businesses that accept credit cards to have cameras to record persons using cards.
- health insurance state mandates
Contact Ron Aldridge with any questions about these or any issue of concern at [email protected] or call 601-201-1323.
