JACKSON, Miss. (AP) _ The Mississippi House on Friday passed one bill that could lead to a higher sales tax in Jackson but slowed the momentum of another bill that had been moving in tandem.
The bill that that got slowed down is a plan to let restaurants sell wine and liquor in a few resort areas that are now either alcohol-free or that allow nothing stronger than beer. The areas are in Tishomingo County in the north, in the city of Flowood and part of the city of Pearl in central Mississippi’s Rankin County and in Pearl River County in the south.
The Jackson tax bill and the resort liquor bill had been moving together through the House and Senate, leading some lawmakers in both chambers to angrily accuse others of cutting behind-the-scenes deals that would violate their oath of office. Legislators swear not to trade their vote for one issue in exchange for a colleague’s vote for another.
Rep. Deryk Parker, D-Lucedale, said he believes drinking alcohol is morally wrong, but that’s not the only reason he opposes the expansion of liquor sales in resorts. He said big money has too much influence on the legislative process.
“I think the thing that upsets me the most about this … just because you get some developers with a lot of resources that can hire them some lobbyists that can come up here and walk the halls and wine and dine some legislators, we get this kind of mess to come out,” Parker said during the House debate Friday.
House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Percy Watson, D-Hattiesburg, said in an interview after the debate that “there is no connection, as far as I know” between the fates of the two bills.
Watson told his House colleagues during debate that some companies won’t sink big money into a development unless they’ll be allowed to sell liquor at clubs or restaurants.
“I don’t drink,” said Watson, a church deacon. “But all people are not like me.”
Opponents said the liquor bill is unfair because local residents in most of the proposed resort areas would not get to vote on whether to legalize the sale of whiskey, scotch and other hard drinks.
There would be no referendum in a section of Pearl near the Mississippi Braves minor-league baseball park and the Bass Pro Shop. There also would be no referendum in part of Tishomingo County or in some subdivisions the bill mentions in Pearl River County.
However, the bill says residents in the city of Flowood would get to vote on the liquor sales.
Several lawmakers, including Republican Rep. Ray Rogers of Pearl, said local people near all the resort areas should get a voice.
“Pearl and Flowood are sister cities in Rankin County,” Rogers said. “We’re joined at the hip for 13 miles running east and west. They’re going to get a chance to vote on their whiskey and the Pearl people are not going to get a chance to vote on theirs.”
Rogers said people in Rankin County have voted against liquor eight times in the past 35 years, and some of the strongest opposition has come from the city of Pearl.
The House voted to send the liquor bill into a final round of negotiations with the Senate. House leaders warned that the move could kill the bill because it could get bogged down.
The Jackson bill, which passed the House with no debate, would allow voters in the capital city to decide whether to increase the sales tax from 7 percent to 8 percent on many items for five years. At least 60 percent of voters would have to vote for the tax, and the extra revenue would pay for police salaries and road repairs. Groceries, restaurant meals, hotel expenses and some big-ticket items such as car sales would be exempt from the extra tax.
The Jackson bill has already passed the Senate and will go to Gov. Haley Barbour unless a House member decides early next week to hold it for more debate. Barbour spokesman Dan Turner said Friday that the governor has not decided whether he’d sign the bill.
The bills are Senate Bill 3268 and House Bill 1441.
AP-CS-02-27-09 1732EST
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