Photo: State Rep. Rodney Hall (R-Southaven) has a number of priorities on his agenda for the 2025 legislative session. (Bob Bakken/desotocountynews.com)
State legislators are making final preparations to return to the state Capitol in Jackson to begin the 2025 session, which will be officially gaveled into session at 12 noon on Tuesday, Jan. 7, 2025. The 90-day session is set to adjourn on April 6.
Among the DeSoto County senators and representatives set to go to work in session is state Rep. Rodney Hall, representing District 20. The Southaven Republican has extensive experience in the military and public service work with Rep. Trent Kelly (R), but this is his first term as himself, a lawmaker.
We recently talked with Hall to learn about his priorities for the session and the first year of work for him as a legislator.
DCN: What are going to be some of the legislative priorities for you as you head back to Jackson here in January?
Hall: One of the bills that I’m very proud of is the Hometown Heroes Home Loan Guarantee Act. I’ve talked with the Realtors Association and they have taken an interest in it. I’m not sure if it’s going to get across the finish line this year, but I do feel confident that it’ll pass some time in this first term. That’s a bill that gives our first responders, our teachers, the ability to purchase a home, very similar to the VA home loan. I think that it’s important for our young professionals, our teachers, our police, to be able to live in the community that they work in. I want to make sure that they can get in the home and start building that kind of wealth and having the American dream.
The sewer problem and the litigation that has happened between the city of Memphis, Shelby County and DeSoto County, is something that I’m watching very closely. We’re trying to find the resources to build that new sewer system to address that litigation, and so we’re on a ticking time clock. I know the leadership at DeSoto County and I’ve talked with the mayor of Southaven and they’re all focused on it. I think we’re going to have to do a multiple pronged approach between the county, the feds and the state to try to come up with a solution for it, but that is another one that I think we’ll be working on very hard moving forward.
Then, there’s also tax reform. We have the highest grocery tax in the nation and that should just shock the conscience of anybody who lives it, or who hears of it. I think that’s a very big priority. We have a lot of folks living on fixed incomes. We have a lot of young families out here. We got a lot of people that are feeling the effects, the inflationary effects, you know, that’s kind of going on nationally. If we can give those families a little bit of reprieve, especially as they try to feed their own, I think that we just have an obligation to do that. So the income tax and the grocery tax are extremely important, and something that I want to see change ASAP.
DCN: Gov. Reeves has talked about the income tax elimination. Is that something you think can happen this session?
Hall: I could see somewhere where the income tax is reduced or completely eliminated, and the grocery tax. But, you know, I know the House side, I can’t speak for the Senate. On the House side, Speaker Jason White and the chairman of Ways and Means trailer more, they’ve been taking a deep, deep dive into where we want to make up that revenue, if it’s feasible to do it now. I trust their opinion and their leadership on it, but I’m keeping a close eye on it as well.
DCN: Highway funding. You know, we had some movement on I-55, but do we have any more coming up?
Hall: We passed it and that was a huge success for us in DeSoto County. I believe that project was cut into three or four phases, and so we secured the first level for the first phase of the project, and I suspect that we’ll continue to work on that. Probably won’t see much movement this session, but in future ones, there’ll be more resources coming down to complete the entire project.
DCN: How about economic development and what can be done at the state level to continue the economic development growth of DeSoto County?
Hall: I can’t give enough credit to Jim Flanagan and what they do over there at the DeSoto County Economic Council. We try to bring the resources here to set the conditions and the foundation, and they go out there and they recruit the guys to come in here. We’re continuing to work with our high schools to ensure that we’re getting the appropriate education in our school system, so we can prepare our students for the economy when they come out of school, whether they go to a trade school, to the workforce or community college, or to a trade or a big university. And then we’re also continuing to work on recruiting and retaining and inviting new business here in DeSoto County.
DCN: After one year, what’s your overall impressions about being a state legislator?
Hall: I just really love legislating. I love legislation, you know, one, I take a lot of inspiration from my mentor, Congressman Trent Kelly. But you know what really just excites me about it, if anybody has the opportunity to go and look at Huntsville, Alabama, when they moved the Space Force down there. I thought, why are they moving the Space Force to Alabama when all the other services are inside the Beltway in D.C. So I took a couple trips out there and went to the Space and Missile Defense symposium, and wow, it just blows your mind. It is the ecosystem, the center of gravity for Space and Missile Defense, and I believe that it all started through a very smart and good legislator in Washington who brought a lot of the defense industry down to Huntsville, Alabama. That’s the power of legislation, if you do it correctly. So I’ve been enjoying it. It’s been a whirlwind experience, but I love it. It’s absolutely fun. It’s important work.
DCN: You’ve been able to get to work with a lot of the local leaders here and economic and governmental leaders. How’s the reception been with your constituents? Have you been able to talk with the people you represent?
Hall: One thing that I really make a conscious effort is to be present. I really dislike the notion of politics that people only come around when they’re asking for a vote, and so I have filled up my schedule with meeting with everybody and anybody that I can specifically within District 20. I have talked with a ton of constituents, helped some out with some matters that they had in governmental issues.
One was an insurance issue with someone on fixed income, and we were really able to stop something that could have been major. A constituent reached out and they were used to getting a certain amount every check because they’re on fixed income. They found out that it was shortened and so they called their company and said, ‘Hey, what’s going on with my check, it’s less than what it normally is?’ The agency said, ‘Mississippi passed through a new law, and so it just applies to everyone.’ I worked with (Insurance Commissioner Mike) Cheney and his team and we found out that it was an error of the company. We were able to stop that, reverse it, and make sure that it didn’t affect anybody else across the state of Mississippi.
I really think that the best ideas come from the people, and the only way you get those ideas is by going out there and talking with the people and getting those down to Jackson.
DCN: Another of the projects you’ve been involved with is the development of Southaven’s West End District. Can you tell me more about that?
Hall: The city of Southaven and Southaven Chamber of Commerce kind of started this process. That’s where I was raised. You know, I love to see all this growth happening in the other parts of Southaven in the ‘38672,’ but I want to make sure that we don’t lose the joy and lose what makes Southaven great in the West End.
I want to see us have investment over there, just like we have investment on the east side. I’ve been talking with (Chamber President/CEO) Debbie (King) and I have reached out to some of our federal legislators, including Sen. Roger Wicker, to try to get federal funding, as well as me going down to the state legislature to get state funding in order to bring a business incubator in to help spur growth in business development over in the West End specifically.
No one wants to be first, no one wants to be last, but I believe that the momentum will grow behind it. We have some vacant buildings over there, and I want to make sure that we’re filling those with the right type of businesses that will spur growth and give us quality, a quality of life and give us things to do.
I am setting up a district office over there in the West End area which is walking distance from my house, and I think it’d be a great anchor point for the 20th District.
