Gov. Barbour Delivers State of the State Address

Read the full text of the speech here. Watch the video here. Gov. Haley Barbour delivered his final State of the State speech on Tuesday urging legislators to spend tax dollars cautiously in the next fiscal year and calling for legislators to add troopers to the roads and broaden access to quality education. Gov. Barbour announced plans to utilize an anticipated $40 million-to-$50 million surplus in Medicaid to place about 7,800 beneficiaries in home- and community-based services. The agency has a projected surplus at the end of the fiscal year due to lower-than-projected participation in the program. He also plans to use $7.3 million of the Governor’s discretionary stimulus funds to hold a troopers school in 2011. This could place 100 troopers on the road if legislators also move the motor carrier enforcement division of the Mississippi Department of Transportation to the Department of Public Safety. Gov. Barbour outlined several proposals for legislators to consider in the current session. Those include:

• Broadening the charter school law to allow more children to benefit;
• Making dual enrollment in high school and college courses easier so students can learn more and parents can save money on college credits earned; and
• Locate the planned Civil Rights Museum in downtown Jackson near exisiting state history museums.