Rep. Shanda Yates plans to focus her attention during the 2023 session on helping combat crime in Jackson in a way that the governor favors.
“We have the Capitol Complex Improvement District (CCID) and Capitol Police, which are state entities, and we can work within those confines,” said Yates, who represents District 64, which includes Hinds and Madison counties.
The 2022 legislative session provided funding to expand the number of Capitol Police officers, a force that had primarily served as security guards for state-owned buildings, and equip them, so they could handle crime within the boundaries of the CCID. The additional Capitol Police officers allow the Jackson Police Department to focus its attention in parts of the city that are outside the CCID.
Yates hopes the boundaries of the CCID will be expanded so it will be easier for police officers and residents to determine where they start and stop.
“The boundaries are confusing,” she said. “The Jackson Police Department doesn’t know where the boundaries end and Capitol Police don’t know where the boundaries end. The residents don’t know.”
The CCID encompasses the major state properties in Jackson. The western boundary captures Jackson State University and the Jackson Medical Mall and the eastern boundary extends across Interstate-55 to include LeFleur’s Bluff, the Mississippi Museum of Natural Science, the Mississippi Children’s Museum and the Mississippi Agriculture and Forestry Museum. The northern boundary extends beyond the Fondren business district to Meadowbrook Road and the southern boundary is South Street.
Some members of the Hinds County legislative delegation would prefer additional funding for crime-fighting efforts in the city go to the Jackson Police Department instead of Capitol Police, Yates said.
“Our governor has said repeatedly that he doesn’t see the state’s job to fund a city,” Yates said. “He’s not scared to veto things. We need to look at ways to use state-created agencies and assets and fund those and use those to help the residents of Jackson.
“We have a governor who supports Capitol Police. We have a Senate who supports it, and the majority of the House (of Representatives) supports it. There’s no downside for the residents of Jackson.”
The governor’s budget request seeks additional funding for Capitol Police to hire additional officers, she said.
There is a need for Capitol Police to have dispatch equipment but that’s not necessarily a funding problem but a logistical problem, Yates said. Capitol Police Chief Bo Luckey and Department of Public Safety Commissioner Sean Tindell are aware of the need, she said.
During the 2022 session, the Legislature funded additional Hinds County special judges, district attorneys and public defenders and Yates would like to see that funded for another year.
“They didn’t get a chance to work until October until the money was appropriated and offices were procured,” she said. “I hope we give them another year’s appropriation to help.”
With the city of Jackson to receive $600 million from the federal government for improvements to its water system, a push for additional funding from the Legislature is not expected, Yates said.
She does expect legislation to be introduced that would require utility bills to be usage-based and not based on property value or a homeowner’s income.
“The city’s third-party administrator for the water system (Ted Henifin) has advocated billing that would be based on property value or income level as opposed to usage,” she said. “That’s not sitting well with 90 percent of my constituents.”
During the 2022 session, Yates made a push for funding for improvements to Jackson’s water system. She sought funding for the creation of a computerized hydraulic model of the city’s water distribution system but was unsuccessful.
Henifin sought the creation a hydraulic model, which would be useful when there are water leaks and other problems, and expects it to be ready early this year.
Yates plans to introduce a bill that would provide recall provisions for municipal officials.
“There’s a statute on the books that allows recall of county-elected officials and this would add recall of municipal officials,” she said.
Yates said she had several constituents reach out to her about such a bill because they are frustrated by the leadership of Jackson Mayor Chokwe Antar Lumumba.
A tax relief bill is also expected to be introduced during the session, she said.
“Whether it will be a rebate or tax cut is undecided,” she said. “The House (of Representatives) has its version of what it should be, and the Senate has its idea of what it should be. I think we will see some form of additional tax relief this session, but I don’t know what that will be.”
The Legislature still has American Rescue Plan Act funds to appropriate, Yates said.
“It can go for a multitude of things,” she said, naming infrastructure projects as a possibility.
Yates expects a push by some members of the Legislature to expand Medicaid, “even if it’s not called Medicaid.”
Yates is co-sponsor of a bill by Rep. Missy McGee of Hattiesburg that would extend post-partum coverage for a mother up to 12 months after the birth of a child.
“If the state is going to have healthy babies, we need healthy moms,” she said. “If the mom isn’t healthy the likelihood of a mom being able to raise a healthy infant is lessened.”
A lawyer, Yates approaches her duties as a legislator as if preparing for a trial. “I wouldn’t be comfortable being any less prepared,” she said.
Never actively involved in politics until she was asked to run for office in 2019, Yates said she did so because she lives in Jackson and she and her husband practice law in Jackson and are raising their son in Jackson.
“I want to be able to tell my son I tried to do something to improve things other than just complain on Facebook,” she said.
During the session from January through March,
Yates said her husband takes over some of her legal work as needed so she can devote time to the necessary meetings.
A graduate of Hinds Community College, the University of Southern Mississippi and Mississippi College School of Law, Yates is assigned to the Compilation, Revision and Publication Committee, Corrections Committee, Insurance Committee, Judiciary B Committee, Judiciary En Banc Committee and the Transportation Committee.
Yates said she strives to be responsive to her constituents. The best way to reach her during the session is by email: syates@house.ms.gov.
“I check that email multiple times a day,” she said.
