Being the new kid on the legislative block certainly gave Missy McGee the chance to learn a lot about state government after her first session as the House District 102 Representative.
For the Hattiesburg native, the wild ride ended March 28 with the last day of the 2018 legislative session. However, the excitement of representing her hometown has been thrilling, she said.
“I am really excited to have this first session behind me and I know that next January, I still will have a lot to learn,” she said. “I know from this point forward I need to continue to learn; that will be really helpful to me. Last year, I had a campaign all summer long, a September election, a runoff in October and I was really so preoccupied with that that I only had November and December to get myself ready. I did go to Jackson a whole lot during those last two months of the year.”
McGee, a Republican, won the special election to fill the unexpired term of Toby Barker, who became Hattiesburg mayor July 1 after running as an independent.
On-the-job training is the best game plan for being a legislator, McGee said.
“There was nothing that can prepare you for the legislative session except getting in there and just doing it,” she said. “You can only tell somebody so much. I understand what they meant because there is a lot to it. Every week is a little bit different from the week before with a whole new set of challenges and things for me to learn. I know I’m going to be in even better shape next January and now I have the rest of the year to study policies and meeting with people, agencies and such as that. So, I’m looking forward to having that behind me when I go back next January.”
McGee said becoming involved in the legislative process also taught her things about herself.
“You start realizing the areas you may have strengths and the areas you are interested,” she said. “Certainly, those areas for me are areas that directly affect Hattiesburg and District 102; that is the priority for me. You start seeing a path and getting to know the people that you can work with that you can advance those issues.”
McGee said she was glad that she was able to follow through on campaign promises, especially early childhood education.
“During the campaign, I talked about the priorities for me,” she said. “So, here were at the end of the 2018 session and I can look back at what was accomplished. I think that we accomplished a lot of the things that I hoped that we would.
“We have a $2.5 million increase over what they appropriated over last year in pre-K in the education bill,” she said. “Last year, it was about $4 million that was appropriated for pre-K; this year, it was about $6.5 million. That is a huge increase for pre-K. we need to continue moving, continue adding more money to that. What that means for Hattiesburg is hopefully Hattiesburg schools will be able to apply for one of those collaborative grants, which is an additional $2.5 million. I am just really hopeful that we can receive one of those grants this year with this additional funding to provide pre-K in Hattiesburg for our youngest kids.”
McGee said she was happy to represent local interests in education.
“We continue to receive funding through appropriations to the DuBard School – actually, they got a little increase – and the Children’s Center at Southern Miss, which is also very important,” she said. “They received level funding from last year, so they received no cuts. That was very important to me."
Getting a bond bill through the Legislature also helped Southern Miss, McGee said.
“We got a bond bill this year,” she said. “Last year, they did not get a bond bill. We did get a bond bill this year worth $7 million to the University of Southern Mississippi. I talk a lot about my commitment to Southern Miss, which is so important to this district. So, I was thrilled that we were able to get a bond bill this year and that we were able to get $7 million in that bond bill.
"Those were specific things that I went up there committed to be an advocate for and I can say that I have come home, and we have gotten that. We have gotten a bond bill. We have the funding we need for the Children’s Center and DuBard. So, I am very pleased with that.”
Although the Legislature failed to redesign the funding formula for education, McGee said she was pleased that funding is going in the right direction with a $3 million in current state education funding.
“We authorized the tech bill for Medicaid,” which she said was a major accomplishment. “This comes up for authorization every three or four years. As recently as two weekends ago, the House and Senate didn’t look like they were going to agree on the bill. The House stood firm on it, worked really hard on conferees and worked really hard to get a tech bill.
“Medicaid is so important and clearly it is important to the recipients. With the health care community as one of our economic engines, those Medicaid payments are critical to our local economy. So, in the final hours of the session, the House and Senate came to an agreement over the Medicaid technical issues. I was very concerned in the last days of the session that we were not going to get that.”
McGee said she had hoped the Legislature would have been able to address funding for infrastructure.
“There was a lot of talk about infrastructure throughout the course of the session,” she said. “Unfortunately, the House and Senate could not agree on a direction. We felt like we sent over to the Senate some very good workable bills that provided solutions for funding infrastructure. In the end, the Senate did not agree and had a plan of its own. We felt like the Senate version did not provide any real money.
“Hopefully, next year it will be a priority. We have to come up with a long-term comprehensive bill to address our infrastructure needs. That is a very fundamental function of government. We’ve got to address that.”
McGee said her experience in the Capitol was gratifying overall and rewarding.
“I have met the greatest folks up there at the Capitol, from other members to the support staff to attorneys,” she said. “Everybody is so more than willing to help you and be patient with you and to explain things. Now I know the people and that makes it a lot easier too, knowing the people who can tell you where to go for the answers. That’s a big part of it. I do feel like I’ve gotten that, and I have found that those people are so happy and so gracious to help any way they can.”
