As the past week’s legislative business came and went, several House and Senate lawmakers made speeches and posts on social media on the life and legacy of former House Speaker Pro Tempore Robert Clark.
Clark, who died on March 4 at the age of 96, was the first Black man elected to the Mississippi Legislature since 1894, and had served as a symbol of progressiveness in the legislature, his colleagues said several times throughout the week.
At first, when Clark was elected in 1967, he was remanded to a one-person desk and put in the corner of the House chamber, not being recognized to speak or make motions on the House floor or even to sit alongside his colleagues.
That, however, did not stop him from inspiring other Black politicians to run for office and serve in the state’s legislature. Nor did it stop him from his significant rise to prominence in the House.
Clark in his time would rise to chair the House Education Committee, a powerful panel of lawmakers overseeing funding, structures of and reforms to Mississippi’s education system.
After that in 1992, he became the House Speaker Pro Tempore, the second-highest position in the House with the responsibility of overseeing the chamber when the speaker was away. He would serve in that position until his retirement in 2004.
“His leadership paved the way for greater representation of African Americans in Mississippi politics, inspiring generations of public servants to follow in his footsteps,” said Cheikh Taylor, D-Starkville, Mississippi Democratic Party chairman. “Representative Clark’s legacy is one of courage, perseverance, and unwavering commitment to justice.”
When Clark’s death was announced, both Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and House Speaker Jason White, who is also from Holmes County, like Clark, honored his memory.
“He was a trailblazer and icon for sure,” White said to the House chamber on Tuesday. “He was always mighty good to me when I was elected to office.”
Clark served as the only Black lawmaker for nearly a decade. Today, there are more than 50 Black legislators in Mississippi.
As lawmakers considered bills in committee by Tuesday’s legislative deadline, many pieces of legislation were left on the chopping block.
By the end of the day, both Senate and House lawmakers had killed about 100 bills that previously passed the Senate and House chamber, respectively, according to Mississippi Statewatch, a legislative intelligence service.
Notably, the legislature’s only vehicle to make reforms to the Public Employment Retirement System of Mississippi was abruptly killed by the House Accountability, Efficiency and Transparency Committee.
When asked why the committee didn’t take up the legislation that would have established a new retirement benefits package for government employees, Chairman Kevin Ford, R-Vicksburg, said he simply needed more time to consider the legislation.
“The failure to pass SB2439, despite countless hours of work in collaboration with the PERS Board and others, is devastating for Mississippi,” Hosemann told the Clarion Ledger in a written response. “Gov. Barbour warned of this crisis in 2009, and it has only worsened. SB2439 ensures funds for our retirees and state employees, including teachers, while providing an increased competitive benefit for future hires. This is a disaster.”
The committee had originally been scheduled to take up the bill, but the committee never did, and it was not on the final agenda.
Ford’s House committee was not the only one to do that after Senate committees killed House priorities by not bringing them up, raising questions of whether House and Senate lawmakers were at that point trading blows.
Tuesday morning, the Senate Education Committee let a flurry of House school choice bills die without consideration. Similarly, the Senate Gaming Committee did not bring up a House-approved bill to establish mobile sports betting in Mississippi.
Later that day, several House committees killed Senate bills and changed others. For example, when the House Education Committee met at 1:30 p.m., it quickly recessed so Chairman Rob Roberson, R-Starkville, could meet with House leadership to figure out what to do next.
When the committee re-met hours later, it killed many Senate education bills, passing only one with an amendment inserting a portability bill into the legislation, which would allow students to move between school districts more easily.
House Gaming Chairman Casey Eure, R-Saucier, also inserted his mobile sports betting bill into a Senate bill to reform the Tidelands Act, a law that creates a boundary between private and public land on the coast.
As for Hosemann and White’s legislative priorities for the year, some such as income tax cuts are very much still alive, some hang by a thread, like school choice, and others are at this point dead.
Those that are totally dead are state retirement system benefits reforms, ballot initiative restoration and suffrage restoration for some nonviolent felony holders.
Grant McLaughlin covers the Legislature and state government for the Clarion Ledger. He can be reached at gmclaughlin@gannett.com or 972-571-2335.
