Welcome to this week's edition of Mississippi Happenings podcast.
My name is David Olds.
Jim, my co-host and cohort, is not feeling very well today.
As you may know, he broke his arm about three weeks ago and he is in a lot of pain and the painkillers, I don't think are doing very, much for him.
We wish him well and we do miss him today.
This week, our topics
Our topic is Mississippi prisons.
Our guest today is House representative for district 92, Becky Currie.
She is a chairwoman of the state house corrections committee.
She also serves on the appropriations, public health, Medicaid, education, transparency, drug policy and peer.
She was in 2007.
Representative Currie,
It is a pleasure and honor to you with us.
We appreciate your service to all Mississippians.
And looking at your uh resume and your committees, you have quite a uh plate full of responsibilities.
I have a handful, but I love doing them.
you know, if I weren't busy, it would be more upsetting to me.
I'm with you there.
Some people just have to have to be busy.
uh Last week, we talked to Cliff Johnson.
Cliff is the director of the MacArthur Center for Justice at the University of Mississippi School of Law.
We discussed the center's mission to reform Mississippi criminal legal system.
They explored the implication of recent judicial rulings, the challenges of political polarization.
the importance of community responsibility in addressing violence.
We also talked about economic justice, the role of faith in social issues, and the need for hope and optimism in Mississippi.
Representative Currie, in the June 19th article of the Mississippi Today, you talked about your recent visit to Parchman.
ah Jim and I, along with probably everyone who read that article, was quite moved with your comments and quite moved with the compassion that showed for those inmates.
Please tell us about that visit at Parchment.
Well, I got this committee in January of last year and I had been in the house for 18 years and Corrections was never on my radar.
I'm a registered nurse.
I graduated from nursing school in 1979.
So you can tell I'm an old nurse, I just, Corrections just never was my thing.
And I love Medicaid and
public health and a lot of other issues, but corrections never was.
But the speaker said to me, our healthcare system is broken.
And when I looked at the people to choose who could fix that, I'm choosing you to do that.
And so I took it on ah quite literally.
I knew nothing about prison systems.
You can't be an expert in all fields.
ah So I had a lot to learn, but I spent a year
ah diving into the system.
ah I will tell you that ah Burl Kane was good to me.
He let me uh learn and go into prisons.
ah So we, I don't know if you remember last year, we stayed in session until the first of May.
It was the longest session I feel like I ever had been through.
So when I started going to prisons, it was already getting pretty hot.
And I can tell you, it was, I was determined, let me say that.
And, you know, I'm pretty sure I got the fluff tours when I first started going.
ah But I had received a letter from one inmate.
When I became chair, you get a lot of letters from inmates and I read every one of them.
ah I still read every one of them.
And I have them in several stacks of what I'm going to do.
ah So we, I had a letter from a gentleman and ah you told me your wife is a nurse and I don't know if she has really bad handwriting, but I have really bad handwriting.
You know, it's just something we did as a nurse and way back when, you know, if a lawyer couldn't read your handwriting, that was great, but I could.
And doctors are the same way.
But ah so anyway, ah it was one of those things where
He wrote me this letter, a prisoner who had been there for 24 years for murder, and his handwriting was immaculate.
And I was drawn to this letter.
This is as simple as it starts.
And I asked Burl if I could see this inmate.
He didn't ask me for anything.
And I guess the other thing that drew me to this letter was the fact that he didn't ask me for anything because most of them did.
He just said he had dedicated his life to God and ah he could be of any service.
It was just a moving letter.
And so I talked about this in the Mississippi Today article, but they got a little bit of it wrong.
They said that he was in a wheelchair.
He was walking on a walker.
But I didn't go back and correct them.
ah
Burl Kane, just for clarification, he is the commissioner of the Department of Correction.
Is that correct, Burl Kane?
Okay.
my.
Yeah.
he's got lots of documentaries, if you ever want to pull them up.
He's ah enjoyed that.
he's, you know, we got along great the first year or so, and he was there with me and this man started uh walking on his walker my way and he was very jaundiced.
You know, my nurse eyes caught all of it.
He was, you know, 6'2", 6'3", extraordinarily thin.
And we sat down on a bench and, you know, I just said, well, it's so nice to meet you.
And obviously you have liver problems.
And he said, I do, I have hep C and I've asked for treatment for years and I can't get the medicine.
And so,
I looked at Burl and said, you know, why are we not treating this man?
ah He was having problems with constant vomiting and diarrhea.
He was losing weight.
ah he said, he told me on the bench that day, I need some boost.
And so we made sure he got boost and I made sure he got treated for hep C and he is now well.
So the further I looked into this, nobody was getting treated for hep C.
And I believe that a fourth of the population in the Department of Corrections is positive for hep C.
I've talked to too many people and um at one time uh the Department of Corrections started drawing blood.
This was back when Centurium was the healthcare provider.
And there were so many ah and they started treating it.
And then Burl brought in Vitalcore, he brought them from Louisiana with him.
And they stopped treating uh Hep C and HIV.
And uh I guess apparently they...
uh
You know, May 1st I had another uh inmate that I was talking with about this and he was in really bad shape and before we could do anything he died May 1st of this year.
So it's just my goal and I'm a Christian and you know the Lord says ah what you do to the least of them you do unto me.
And I'm not going to stand before him and say, had the power to do something about this and I didn't do it.
I'm just not, that's not going to be in my wheelhouse.
So we're going to treat these folks and we're going to get better healthcare in prisons.
And, and I'm not saying we got to have a Cadillac blue cross, you know, which I don't, I'm not thrilled about blue cross.
have that, but, oh you know, but let's, we're going to not let people have a, uh
five or ten year sentence be a death sentence.
And that's where I am and I'm not going to move an inch.
Now uh Hep C and I, you're right, my wife is a nurse and I listened to her and I understand some of the things she said.
Now Hep C, that's highly contagious, isn't it?
Okay.
contagious.
So not only you have to look at it as a public health issue, it's contagious.
So people around those people could get it.
When they get out of prison, then they come back out into the community, people can get it.
ah So it is a public health issue.
ah What I also found out, and I've been doing a lot of digging is years ago, ah somebody, and I don't know who,
throw them under the bus, but somebody took the Department of Corrections out from under the Department of Health.
So they have no oversight, none, zero.
Nobody to say ah this is going on except for the email, not the email, excuse me, letters they send.
And I'm positive that letters have been sent out and thrown in the garbage because, you know, it's prison.
And I will be honest with you, a year and a half ago, I might've thrown a boy too because it wasn't in my wheelhouse, but now it is.
And I read these letters.
I don't get back to each and every one of them, but I hope they can tell that I've said something to the healthcare professionals there and that they need to be getting treated.
I'm...
um
going to go down this road wherever it leads if we have a new health care provider or if we start one of our own.
went to Louisiana.
Louisiana does their own health care.
So their doctors and nurses and dentists are employed by the state and get retirement benefits, state benefits, and they run their own health care.
we have nurses and come and go who don't stay.
And we have
Those nurses were saying, have 24 years in the system.
Next year, I'm able for retirement.
And they were as happy as they could be.
So we've got to look at what is the best way to ah provide basic needs uh and get people well.
Thank you.
Thank you for that.
Now, tell us a little bit about Vital Core.
I understand that they are the health provider.
Is that correct?
Okay.
There was, and I'm looking at the article.
uh Were they uh fined or did the Mississippi Department of Correction withhold some...
uh
money from them.
It looks like maybe two million dollars in proceeds.
Yes.
And so like I say, I dig a lot.
They signed a contract, which I asked the governor's office not to sign this contract until I could get in.
mean, it was bad.
So why would we sign a contract where we know the health care is bad?
And so, oh you know, the RFP was out and it's a lot of legal smegling.
I'm no lawyer.
ah And that contract went on.
and we re-signed with them.
And what is it RFP?
I'm sorry.
is when an agency bids for a contract with the state.
forgive me if I use terms that are normal to me, but always ask me, I'll tell you.
But that's how companies or anybody in the state, everybody needs to learn what an RFP is if you want to do business with the state, because that's how you get a contract.
So what had been happening before this,
Prior to this contract, ah the Department of Corrections just kept renewing the same contract with Vital Core.
They've been there about five years now ah on an emergency basis.
And nobody was paying attention, so they just kept renewing it where nobody had to go through the bidding process.
So they did make it through the bidding process.
They were the lowest bid, which sometimes is not the best bid.
Mm-hmm.
they came in at 119 million a year.
We paid them 123 million for 2025.
And at the end of this, they'll be making, at the end of the three-year contract, they'll be making $133 million a year.
Well, when I was going in the prisons and knowing the numbers, I came out saying, where's this money?
because it's not being spent here.
uh we have diabetics.
I've been in communication with a diabetic that ah has been there for a while ah and has lost both legs because he cannot control his diabetes in prison.
Now, I believe if you uh break the law and you're a danger to society, you need to go to prison.
But I don't believe you ought to be able to have to lose two legs going.
uh So anyway, you know, there's just a lot that needs to be done.
And I'm not, this isn't rocket science.
This is just humanity and they're human beings.
And I'll tell you this, I've talked to a lot of them that, you know, unfortunately got a DUI, injured somebody and they're there.
And for the, you know, I know a lot of people.
oh
My husband and I don't drink, but I know a lot of people who have a couple of drinks somewhere and get in a car that they could be there too.
ah you know, it's the grace of God that more people aren't in there under that.
There's a lot of people there that are not bad people.
There's a lot of people there that are bad people, ah but we still have to be humane.
Understood and and thank you for that and and I I had that same verse in my mind, you know for the sake of was it for the sake of God or You know for the sake of God go I uh
Something like that.
Yeah, so uh and you know good people make bad decisions, but I I admire your compassion that that you have that you have for them is
Parchman, and maybe this is a question for all the, within the prison systems in Mississippi, is Parchman a, and I will use this and I mean no offense by it, ah is it a
prison for profit?
Well, it shouldn't be.
It's not supposed to be.
you know, ah I have been looking through contracts and I think some people do make money off of prison oh work.
But, ah you know, it is a not-for-profit prison.
But it is the third largest budget in the state.
If you think of
all of education, all of Medicaid, the next budget is corrections.
So we're giving, the taxpayers are giving plenty of money for this to be done right.
And I don't think that there is a person out there ah that would say ah be cruel to people and let them lose their limbs or their life.
We're paying our tax dollars to make sure we have prisons, but we need them safe.
and we need them healthy.
And so I've been to other prisons uh across the country and uh we're behind, we're uh very far behind.
I will say that ah Mr.
Kane coming from Louisiana, he did a lot of good things in Louisiana.
I've been there several times and he started uh a lot of good things.
He's done a lot of things here in Mississippi.
I think if you haven't been to Parchman, you need to go.
Everybody, you know, I'd be glad to take people, but he has brought in, we put air conditioning in almost every building at Parchman except a couple.
And the honest truth is we ran out of money.
So that's better.
The grounds are very nice.
I'm sure it's not fun to be in prison, but it's better than it used to be.
They have classes, they have GED classes.
have, ah I just went to a graduation where uh several people graduated from seminary there.
have, yeah, I mean, he's done some wonderful things.
ah He has a barber school, a body shop school, a welding school.
So you can get in these programs.
I will be honest to tell you that we need them bigger.
because there's not enough space for as many people that want to go through them.
But they have a lot of classes, Bible classes.
There's all kinds of things to keep them busy.
ah And that was what his goal was.
As long as I can keep them busy, there won't be a lot of trouble going on.
And that seems to have uh helped some.
But we still have gangs in Mississippi, and we still have a lot of drugs in prisons.
We still have a lot of problems.
and I hope to help work those out.
It sounds like you're definitely on the right track and you do have that laser focus of what is right and what is wrong.
Yeah, there's uh a religious group called Kairos and I know that they go down to parchment probably twice a year with their ministry and I know they do a tremendous job with that.
So it's good.
to know that oh the things that you just mentioned that Mr.
Kane had put into place is good.
Are our prisons run by the state or they run by...
uh private companies.
It's run by the state.
It's 100 % state funds.
oh So that's one of the reasons why it's the third largest appropriations in the state.
oh
I wasn't sure.
when I hear the term and I don't, you when I heard the term prisons for profit, I think about the companies that the state pays to run those prisons.
So,
You know, we have two private prisons in Mississippi.
I don't know if you know that.
Okay, so that came about maybe in the 80s, long before I was here.
We had two built and in the law, it says that we have to keep them at a 10%.
We pay them 10 % less than we do for state prisons.
But there's also a number and I'm not quite sure.
I want to say it's at least 75 % full.
ah One's in Meridian and one is in um Southwest Mississippi, Wilkinson County, I believe.
But don't make me swear on that.
Right this minute it's left me.
I'm a little older.
But anyway, those are two private prisons and I will be honest with you, they have their hands full.
because we do send the worst of the worst there.
ah A lot of mentally ill are sent to these two prisons that what we call
medicine resistant.
In other words, there's medicine doesn't help.
And they're just, it's sad and it's pitiful.
ah don't, uh you know, I wrote the bill for mental health courts years ago.
It never has really taken effect, which is one of the biggest sad news I have, but it's just like a drug court.
If you get off your medicines and you commit a nonviolent uh crime,
that you would go to mental health court and we would keep you out of prison, just like drug court.
You could go and see a judge if you kept your appointments, if you're taking your medicine, you don't go to prison.
ah But then a violent crime, of course, would go.
So we have a lot of mentally ill patients, I call them patients, in prison, which is really sad.
Gotcha.
Yeah, there is, like you said, guess there is a difference between an inmate uh and a patient, like you said, with mental health issues.
Are there any mental health facilities in Mississippi that could take some of those patients?
I'm proud to say ah we have just opened a hundred bed unit at Whitfield.
ah It's called Forensic Unit.
so the great news about this is we just opened the building and the Department of Mental Health is working diligently in trying to help us with this situation.
Also, because there were such a long waiting list of inmates that were mentally ill sitting in county jails waiting to uh get in the forensic unit, which was very small.
So we built this facility to make sure our county jails, oh got to where the judge could not, they couldn't stand trial because they were not competent, but they had to be deemed
not competent.
So now this unit is a hundred bed unit.
And we are also building apartments.
So once you get out of this forensic unit, you would go into different apartments on grounds.
It's still behind the gates ah and they're completely watched and taken care of.
don't want you, but it's not in this close confined unit.
But we are doing, we're...
We're moving forward and I'm proud to say that because for 18 years we weren't.
Thank you for that.
That's, that is good to know because, and it's good to know that they are being, number one, they're being taken care of.
Uh, they're, they are getting their meds that they need.
They are not, you know, uh, on our streets.
They are not, um, having attacks where they could possibly, um, become violent.
And as you said, they are behind the gates, but it's, it's,
It gives, I would guess that it also gives him a lot of, gives him a feeling of a little bit of freedom and also a little bit of pride in themselves and what they're doing.
So I don't know if you remember this, I'm going way back and, but during the Obama years, Obama decided that everybody that was in a institution needed to be back home and have
community services near their house, which is a wonderful thing to think of, but in rural Mississippi, we don't have that.
So when they emptied, they made us empty Whitfield and other places.
And all of those patients went to, I can tell you, my experience was a lot of them went to Smith Park and lived right by the Capitol, ah which was a disservice to everybody.
You know, they didn't get their medicine.
They can't make decisions.
They can't pay rent.
They can't feed themselves.
And you'll see them walk on the street now.
So the federal government is changing a little bit.
You know, this was a way to have, in my nurse opinion,
was a way to have when they were in Whitfield, it was kind of a nursing home for the mentally ill who cannot take care of themselves.
Why we would have ever stopped that, I don't know.
And maybe we should have put some of them in communities that had, uh you know, care, community care, but a lot of our communities, we don't have a red light.
much less a mental health facility.
So I think they did that in a broad scheme of big cities, but it didn't work well here in America and Mississippi, excuse me.
Gotcha.
uh One other article that thought that in doing the research on you, uh you also made a comment about, and this was also Mississippi Today, which I love, ah that you were, there
was a situation with uh rape kits in our hospitals.
Tell us a little bit about that and what are your thoughts about that?
Well, I worked in the emergency room a long time as a nurse and I did unfortunately a lot of rape kits and they're not hard to do.
They take time because once you start one, you have to finish it because it's evidence and you have to treat it as evidence and a lot of people, I don't know if they don't take
things as seriously as I do, but you have to provide that care and it has to be a chain of custody.
so forth.
But a lot of hospitals uh decided that they just weren't going to do rape kits.
And we got reports in the legislature that a lot of people had gone to emergency rooms, uh women, men, and children, and they were turned away at the door and said, you'll have to
go 60 miles to this hospital.
uh I think they do rape kits.
Not ever calling anybody, not ever
assisting the patient with anything.
They were turned away and a lot of people just went home.
And so that person that did that rape was out on the street again to do it again.
And so we passed a law this year that says every emergency room will have up-to-date rape kits and they will perform them.
And you know this was to me just astonishing that anyone went for help.
to an emergency room and didn't get it.
So today they will get one and if anybody goes and they don't get it, I want to know about it.
I'm assuming they can refuse a rape kit if a patient could refuse.
Okay.
Gotcha.
Now once those, and I know in, and I'm in Olive Branch, so I'm close to the Memphis area.
And one of the issues that this way is there's so many rape kits.
that are just there and they're not being looked at.
What's the situation and how do we handle that in Mississippi with the rape kids?
did put this in the bill.
There are rape kits now with a barcode on them, just like Walmart.
And so it's scanned.
I'm gonna be honest with you about something.
There were a lot of uh rape kits in the back, in the trunk of police cars, and they were on shelves in an evidence room.
They were not treated in the chain of custody, like I'm saying, that they were supposed to be.
this barcode will be scanned and the patient will be able to see where their rape kit is by going in and looking and seeing where that scanned kit is now.
Whether it's in a police department and nobody picked it up, you make sure that it ends up in the oh crime lab.
ah yet we addressed that as well in this bill.
uh Thank you for your involvement in that and work to get that passed and get that to go through.
Let's
One of the, I do want to ask your opinion and get your thoughts about something.
The recent article in, about Rankin County and the goon squad and also the Rankin County Sheriff using his, inmates to work on the chicken farm.
What's, and you know, in newspapers we get a story and we may, okay.
When I was watching the news last night, I want you to know that sheriff was on the news, so he must be still working.
And I was shocked to see that.
I mean, how is he still a sheriff?
I do not know.
The goon squad made me sick at my stomach.
And I hope they stay a long time.
I've been through our prisons, they're not great.
I hope they stay a long time, but I do not understand how this sheriff is still a sheriff.
Yeah.
um
needs to do their job.
I don't know who it is, but somebody needs to do it.
Good.
Thank you.
Thank you for your thoughts.
No, you're not.
And oh that's what I admire about people.
That's what I admire, especially oh with women.
Women don't need to be shy.
I married a very opinionated, as I said, she's a nurse.
She has her own mind.
I don't tell her what to think.
I don't make any decisions for her.
And at the same time, I'm also proud to know that we raised a daughter who is the same way.
So yes.
I can tell you in this man's world in the legislature, you pretty much, if you're not strong, you're gonna get run over.
So that's just pretty much how it is.
I could believe that and because if you can, my wife also graduated nursing school.
She went to Baptist here in, well, not here in Memphis, but she went in Memphis.
I also graduated in 79 and she was very mild and meek when she went, but after about a year, she knew where she, I mean, you guys.
nurses have to put the doctors in their place, right?
this is where it came from.
have 45 years of nursing.
I learned a lot from doctors and I did not want to take anything away from them, but a lot of them had some really bad personalities.
Oh, yes.
My wife has some stories and, and when her nurse and friends, you know, get together and I'm in the room for a little bit, when they start getting going into detail and
procedures, you know, like nurses like to do talk about the details and go, I'm out of here.
I don't want to know.
I don't want to know that.
Um, but I didn't mean to get off on that, but, let's now, if you, if you don't.
mine, let's, let's kind of shift gears here for a little bit.
and kind of talk about some other things.
Uh, one of the things that we, that Jim and I talk about a lot, uh, you know, we talk about, um, expanding Medicaid.
So for right now, and because of your, your experience,
as a healthcare provider and now as a legislator.
Tell us your thoughts about the healthcare in Mississippi and possibly, what were your thoughts about expanding or accepting federal aid for Medicare or Medicaid, excuse me,
Medicaid.
can tell you uh during Philip Gunn being the speaker uh for 12 years and uh when this started, I always voted to expand Medicaid.
ah Not the conservative, and I am a very conservative, I know you're not going to like this, but I'm a MAGA through and through.
ah But
As I looked at our healthcare system and if you remember, our rural hospitals were about to close.
ah This was just uh a matter of life and death.
I live in a small town and I need my hospital here because I'm gonna need it if something happens to me or my family or my constituents.
We need to stop there and be stabilized and then transferred to Jackson.
ah So rural hospitals are important.
and they were closing.
So I was always for this.
I do see people as a nurse, I had people that had to make a decision between medicine or food to eat.
We don't need to have that.
And so I always voted for Medicaid expansion.
The other reason, if you think about this, you know, there's only about 10 states that haven't done it.
So all of the federal dollars are going to California and New York.
And we are the poorest, the most unhealthiest, the fattest, all the things that, you know, unfortunately we are, because we have great food here.
ah Why would we let our federal dollars go to anybody else but us?
And, you know, we could have been doing this now for over 12 years.
We'd let billions of dollars go.
oh And when all I ever said was put in the bill, the day the federal government stops paying, it's over because we can't afford it.
But that's all you had to put in the bill.
And then when it happens, you blame the federal government.
We will not be able to pick it up.
I mean, so it was not rocket science to me, but we have not done it.
oh I will also tell you that other states that did expand Medicaid are getting
federal dollars for their prison system, which would help me right now cure HIV and hep C.
But we don't get any federal dollars for our prison system.
So, oh but anyway, it was just a no brainer for me, but it was not a popular uh bill until Philip Gunn left.
And now our new speaker, Jason White, I actually saw it like I saw it.
You know, we have just unfortunately,
The federal government wanted to give us billions of dollars.
And you know, while Philip Gunn was uh speaker, we got all that ARPA money.
Do you remember all that money that came down?
uh A billion, two dollars and we enjoyed it so much and people were scrambling for it.
I want this in my district and I want this in my district.
And we spent that money happily.
But when it comes to
them giving us billion dollars for healthcare, we didn't want any part of it.
Now, tell me, explain that to me, because I just don't get it.
So here we are.
When Governor Reeves was in his last campaign, he changed the way hospitals were being paid, which we could have done a long time ago.
We would have never been in the position of necessarily needing expansion if we changed only the way the hospitals were being paid.
Now you don't hear anything about hospitals being closed now.
You know why?
Because we did Medicaid expansion just for that.
Gotcha.
hospitals and now they're getting paid a decent amount where they can stay open and we just didn't do the complete expansion.
So I'm so proud that he did that.
I will be perfectly honest with you.
We needed to have done it a long time ago.
And so there we are on Medicaid expansion.
I'm not against it.
Our country is in $36 trillion in debt.
ah If the little bit that Mississippi was going to get out of that.
will help us get out of debt, so be it.
I just felt like it was the wrong move.
Okay.
Well, thank you for that.
And you mentioned that you are a MAGA and no, I'm not.
that, and I respect that and, I'm not, and I know that, but that's okay.
That's good.
And that's, seeing, seeing you talking to you and knowing your thoughts of that, it also, um,
My guess is, and I didn't look at the vote and anything like that, but my guess is there's a lot more people, MAGA, like you.
And it's so important that we look at, we as Americans, oh we look at the things that we've got in common, the things that we share, instead of the things that draw us apart.
So thank you so much for those comments.
stop talking, communicating.
If we communicate and listen to each other, you can come out with good legislation or I believe that this is America and you have every right to believe what you want to and I
have every right to believe what I want to and I respect you for your opinions and I don't think that everything that you believe is bad and I hope you don't believe everything that
I believe is bad.
Not at all.
I'm with you 100 % on that.
Well, let's do something else.
Let's talk about, because we've had different people come on and got their opinion.
We've talked to Kyra Roby.
She was a political analyst, and she wrote an article also in Mississippi Today about the elimination of the state income tax.
We've talked to, as I said, Justice
We've talked to Senator Robert Johnson and we've talked to former governor Ronnie Musgrove.
uh
you had to point that out, didn't you?
Thank you, Representative Currie.
But we want, we want Republicans in here.
We want to hear, just like in talk with you, we found something in common and that's, we're talking.
We're talking and you and I gonna, you know, you and I will be friends when we hang up and we'll, it'll all be good.
And, uh, but, uh,
But yes, I have asked several Republicans to join us.
And if you could persuade them, let them know that I didn't, we didn't beat you up and anything like that.
You know, we were cordial and we had a lot of fun.
ah But yes, I'd love to talk to uh Shad White.
You know, I would love uh to talk to, as I said, Josh Harkins.
We would love to talk to, and I've sent a letter, an email.
to all of them, to everyone.
And we haven't heard back from anybody, but yes, we would love to talk because this is what it's about.
So let's do this.
oh Let's talk about the elimination of the state income tax.
I've heard pretty much one side of it that oppose it.
ah And I'd like to hear.
from a Republican.
So what are your thoughts?
Well, you know, I'm going back to Philip Gundays when he started oh this and he got a good ways in and his legislation started with hardworking people that weren't making a lot of
money and I'm not good on tax laws so I have to give it to you the regular human way.
oh So we started with
4%.
And it was if you were a hardworking Mississippian, we began with you, which, know, I hate to tell you that was, you're only going to feel that this year.
You know, we work into plans, you know, slowly ah because we do have a lot of bills to pay.
ah But we are doing well as a state and it was time to start giving people's money back to them.
ah Now, you know, I hope I'm not in the legislature when they have to reverse this because we're not doing well.
ah But here we go.
ah So Speaker White wanted to continue that and get to where one day we don't have state income tax.
ah I agree with that.
I love that idea.
We have a lot of people around us, Tennessee, a lot of uh states around us that do not have the state income tax, and we lose projects.
We lose big...
ah
projects manufacturing to states with the no income tax.
So we wanted to get there.
ah Some of the, I'm going to be honest with you, some of the bill I liked, some of the bill I didn't like.
But the whole goal was to get to elimination of income tax.
ah My idea during Philip Gundry and Jason White was to eliminate the grocery tax, ah especially
especially during Biden's reign where groceries became so expensive.
So I wanted that to happen.
We did that a little bit.
To me, we didn't do it enough, but I was going to vote for any that I could help people with.
In my career, I always said I would never vote for a gas tax, ever.
But what happened to me?
was I had elimination of the income tax, of the gross or reduction of the grocery tax.
And sometimes you have to hold your nose and vote for something else in it.
uh
heard that a lot and I have used that and I will continue to use it again.
But go ahead, thank you.
So, you know, was it a perfect bill?
No.
Will it help Mississippi in the long run with economic development and jobs?
And I believe absolutely.
you know, it was, I'm going to tell you, they just went through the big, beautiful bill in D.C.
And I can tell you that there were some things they liked in it and some things they didn't and they held their nose to.
ah But you have to look for the future and you have to say what's going to be best in the long run for Mississippi.
And I believe that both of these bills will be for the country and for Mississippi.
So that's where I stood on eliminating income tax.
And time will tell because it's going to take so many years before it to actually happen.
But I will say this.
since I did hold my nose and vote for a gas tax, they better get every pothole filled and they better, I'm gonna tell you something, I don't even need them to build another new
road until they do all of state aid roads.
There's a lot of counties that there's a lot of state aid roads and I know somebody, a lot of people aren't gonna know what I'm talking about, but they have.
put state aid roads that are right in every county on the back burner while they do all these crazy things and cut trees down in the middle of the highway and plant sod and put
this wire thing up that I think ah doesn't save a life out there.
There's so many things that get done that let's just work on the necessities for a few years, get our roads and bridges up to snuff.
and I will feel much better about pushing that button.
Gotcha, gotcha.
And I totally agree with you on the grocery tax.
And I understand your position of holding your nose.
ah The thing about the grocery, excuse me, the grocery tax, that affects everybody.
The gasoline tax, that's an increase.
Yes, it affects everybody.
ah
But my concern is with the gas tax that it affects the ones who cannot afford it the most.
uh That's my concern with the increase in the gasoline tax.
And yes, and in this area, we're very fortunate.
You have a remarkable area where you live.
ah They are really on top of things.
And look, my folks are too with what they have to work with.
ah So that's what I'm saying.
If we're going to send MDOT a whole lot more money every year that gas tax goes up, ah I want them to be on the ball and doing the right thing.
Gotcha.
You had mentioned uh the state and the state aid roads.
that state aid?
What is that?
back in history again, they, I'm not even sure how it happened, but like we have several big roads out in our country, okay?
We call it out in the country.
We're a small town, but we still have out in the country, okay?
uh So a lot of them,
Deemed in the 80s and 90s, they were deemed state-aid roads that the state is responsible for.
So the supervisors sit around waiting for them to come fix these state-aid roads.
And I have some that I want you to know are almost not drivable.
You will ruin your tires.
uh So we increased the amount to the state-aid roads, but I'm really serious.
We can't give you all this money and you keep neglecting oh towns like Brookhaven where I live ah because you want the coast to be pristine and you want Rankin County to be
pristine and you want Olive Branch and DeSoto County because those are the three counties you have to have to win an election.
But you forget all the rest of us and I'm gonna tell you I'm quite frankly tired of it.
I'm not even gonna go there and I'm not even gonna attempt to disagree with you because you're kinda right.
So I'm not gonna disagree with you at all.
One last thing that...
ah
And I think this is where you and I will probably see things differently, but that's why it's so important that I see where you're coming from.
oh
Let's talk about, I know that you support school choice.
Tell me about school choice and your thoughts on that.
Well, school choice has been one of those things and always simmers, but it doesn't go anywhere.
And I have uh supported a few different things with oh special needs children.
You know, we have where you can take the money with you.
If your child needs something from another school, you're not getting in your public school and their special needs.
I want them to get, if the parent's willing to drive, you know, once again, I,
serve district 92, our schools are doing great, a good job, but if you want some kind of specialty for your child, you're going to have to drive to Jackson or Hattiesburg.
And if you are willing to take your child there so they can get the best opportunities they can get, I'm all for you doing that.
oh I am all for um children who need to go to another school because of their bullied or they're not doing well.
at their school.
I do believe the parents should be in charge of their oh child's uh education, not anybody else.
What I do want to say to most people is that when you vote for school choice, ah there's only, and I'm sorry, we call it butts in the seat, and I know that may not sound very nice
or appropriate, but that's what we call it, okay?
There's only so many butts in the seats that you can provide, okay?
So it's not going to make...
Right, I mean, I don't know.
That's what it's set.
We call it that at the legislature.
So there's only so many that are going to change to start with.
ah I have a terrible time with there being a ah failing school.
that that child is not going to get out of that school district with a good education.
But because of where you live, that's where you have to go.
You have no other choice.
That's why I voted for charter schools.
And they're doing better, but they've been struggling as well.
But, you know, what is the answer?
I'd love for somebody to tell me what the answer.
I want you to know I am a big public school supporter.
I graduated from public school and I think I've done okay.
And I just, what is going to be the answer?
I want the failing schools and is it competition that's gonna make them become a better school?
I don't know the answer to that.
I want, you know, I think that this is where the room for sit down and discussion is.
Between Republicans and Democrats, I think that we all need to sit down and say,
What is it we need to do?
Because more money hasn't been the answer.
I hate to tell everybody, we've given a ton of money that you don't even hear them complaining about money anymore.
So, okay, then what is the answer?
And I wish I had that magic bullet.
ah I'm open to any suggestions, but I just have this huge problem of saying,
to this child who lives in a poor area and has a poor failing school system, I'm sorry you're just never going to have a chance because of where you live.
So, you know, maybe school choice isn't it, but what is it?
Do you, is it, that's okay, that's okay.
I love it.
Yes, you have me thinking and that's what it's all about.
That's absolutely, that's what we're supposed to do.
Now there are some people that feel that money that's earmarked, that's dedicated, that's supposed to go to public education.
is being, and I'll use the term, funneled to school choice, to charter schools, and to private schools.
Okay, is that your question to me?
Okay, I will tell you this, that in our constitution, we're not supposed to send money to private schools.
And you're welcome.
And I have not been for that.
uh I will tell you that uh I don't, if they vote to change that, that'll be a different subject.
I have one vote.
uh
But right now, that's what our constitution says, but yet we seem to be getting away with doing that, or some people are.
not, I just believe everybody needs to follow the rules.
And if they want the rules changed, then we need to bring it to a vote.
ah Change the rules.
And I'm not gonna ah vote.
As you can tell, I love rules.
I just love them.
And I don't like breaking them.
ah I guess that's the nurse in me.
This is the rule and this is what we're going to follow.
ah I just, that's how I feel about it.
know, if you have the means to send your child to a private school, that's wonderful and good for you.
I want to see our public schools make it because they are the backbone of our society.
ah But if they aren't going to make it, what are we going to do?
And I guess that's where I am.
And I haven't heard anybody.
I'm not asking you for an answer.
I haven't heard anybody with that answer yet.
So I'm still waiting.
And that's not my expertise.
I'm on education committee, but that one's not mine.
of the interesting things that I heard, and I'd like your thoughts on this, and we have interviewed Nancy Loom and we have with the Parents Campaign, we have interviewed Erica
Jones with the Mississippi Association of Educators and gotten their take.
uh
One of the things that I hear uh is that there's different rules and regulations within the public school system.
You know, the state dictates and tells them what they have to teach in the rules and regulations.
Whereas on a charter school or private school, they get to pick and choose the students that they want or don't want.
And you mentioned special needs students.
You know, I would think that a lot of the private schools would not want say an autistic child.
I'm not saying they do or not, but I would think that that would be a distraction.
uh
But it seems that uh charter schools, private schools, they have their own rules and regulations and they don't seem to care about what other schools are teaching.
Is that a fair statement or not?
It is not for charter schools.
They follow the same curriculum that our state, they are a state school and they're run, yeah, charter schools are not, but private schools, of course, they don't, uh they can do
whatever they want to, they're private.
ah But let me also say, I don't believe private schools won't state money because then they would be told what to do from the state and
Honestly, the people I've talked to, they don't want it.
They want to be able to have prayer in school and all of the things that state schools you may not be able to have.
So I don't know of one right now in my district that won't state money.
we'll, you know, I guess we'll cross that bridge when we get there.
But, you know, my concern is not picking it.
I don't know anybody that would want to send their
their child to private school that has no resources for them.
You can get physical therapy and speech therapy and all the therapies that you need for your autistic or special needs child at public school.
You're not gonna get that at private school.
So I don't see that happening.
What I do see happening is you're, uh well, they got a good quarterback over there at this school.
And I believe that's what's going to be the problem.
Absolutely, do you are in the state of Mississippi and Friday night Friday night lights?
uh Representative Currie.
Thank you so much.
ah This has been a blast.
It's been a lot of fun.
ah I admire your tenacity.
I remind I admire your uh compassion.
uh And.
This is, this has been a lot of fun.
Let me ask you this as we close, is there anything that you want our viewers, our subscribers to do?
What do you need from us?
What do you need from the public?
I need the public's help on making sure that ah when I tell you that people are dying in prison, no matter how you feel about them, it's the Christian thing to do to help me make
sure that they get treated.
They are our brothers and sisters.
They are humans.
And ah it's just me alone right now.
And I do need the public's help.
You know who I hear from the most?
is the parents.
ah And it doesn't affect anybody till you have someone there.
But I believe that there are good people out there and I believe they understand we're already paying for it.
Just help me make sure that we get the right thing done.
Call your legislators, call your governor, call your lieutenant governor, call your attorney general.
ah I do need your help because as you can tell, I'm not shy.
And they all know how I feel.
ah But I think they probably need to hear from somebody but just me.
Yeah.
Well, thank you.
will, if you don't mind, we will put your uh email on the screen and that way that they can get in touch with you on that.
We'll put your house email on that.
ah Well, Becky, as I said, this has just been great.
uh It's good to hear from you.
It's good to hear from a Republican.
Hey, look, we can say that a Republican and a Democrat got along well today, right?
uh
did.
We had a good conversation and we found out there's a lot more that we have in common than divides us.
So once again, we thank you and we want to thank you, our viewer, our listener, our subscriber.
We appreciate your continued support.
If you have any questions, comments, please drop us a line at
mshappeningsthenumber1.gmail.com.
That's mshappeningsthenumber1.gmail.com.
We do appreciate all of you.
Thank you for listening.
Thank you for being here.
Please subscribe, tell your friends.
ah This will allow us to get more Republicans on the episode.
oh remember, may we never become
indifferent to the suffering of