Legislative Update - BP Settlement Funds
The early weeks of the 2018 Mississippi Legislative Session saw two bills that seek to govern future expenditures of the BP Economic Damage Settlement Funds, Senate Bill 2176 and House Bill 1512, pass the Senate and House, respectively.
Since the House of Representatives’ passage of House Bill 1512 on February 5, the legislature has been relatively quiet on the topic of the BP Economic Damage Settlement Funds, with each chamber having established their own position on the issue. We don’t expect any significant new action until March, at which point the differences between the House and Senate bills will need to be reconciled with the opposite chambers. The next important deadline will come on March 26th, which is the deadline for reports of the conference committees of the House and Senate to be filed. If the House and Senate bill versions are invited to conference committee, both the full House and Senate will then have to reconsider any final version of legislation resulting from the two chambers’ conference deliberations.
The two primary BP Economic Damage Settlement bills considered by the legislature to date vary considerably between the House and Senate versions.
Senate Bill 2176, authored by Senator Brice Wiggins and co-authored by Senators Moran, Gollott, Seymour, Carter and Watson, would create a fund called the “Gulf Coast Restoration Reserve Fund” in the Mississippi treasury and deposit into the fund all economic damage settlement proceeds received by the state as a result of the 2010 Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill. The bill further directs that “monies deposited into the Restoration Reserve Fund shall be used for projects that will benefit the Mississippi Gulf Coast.” Under SB 2176, the Mississippi Legislature would be required to appropriate the set-aside funds to specific projects through the normal annual legislative appropriations process.
House Bill 1512, which was co-authored by most members of the Mississippi Gulf Coast House delegation, passed the House of Representatives earlier this month. The bill's language was changed in in a strike-all amendment when the bill was introduced on the House floor. The new language mandates that the Mississippi Development Authority administer the BP Economic Damage Settlement funds, and it creates 11 districts statewide in which the funds can be spent, including a standalone district for Hancock, Harrison and Jackson Counties. The amended bill also creates legislative advisory boards for each of the 11 districts consisting of all members of the House and Senate representing each geographic region. The legislative advisory boards serve only in an advisory capacity to provide counsel on projects to be awarded, and the bill says that MDA has authority to make all final funding decisions.
The House also passed House Bill 1185, which is intended to serve as the eventual funding vehicle that brings forward the controlling code section, Section 27-103-302 of the Mississippi Code of 1972. HB 1185 was passed in order to create a separate legislative vehicle to govern the percentage of the total settlement which will be split among the 11 districts created by House Bill 1512. There is no proposed split in the bill currently – it simply carries forward the code section. The good news is that two BP bills are still making their way through the legislative process, thus giving the Coast two legislative vehicles to work with to achieve the goal of bringing a fair and honorable resolution to the question of how – and where – the BP funds will be spent. However, the two bills aren’t yet in a form that they fully represent the four virtues adopted by the Gulf Coast business community – an independent Coast-based decision-making body, transparency of deliberations and decisions, accountability to ensure results are delivered as promised, and a strict focus on projects that move the economic needle.
We ask that you stay engaged with your local legislators in promoting the four virtues listed above to ensure the Coast receives the best possible benefit from the BP Settlement Funds. We will continue to update you on progress as the legislative session enters its final month.
