Mississippi lawmakers have finished their work for the 2021 regular session and a watchdog organization overseeing their voting records affecting business and economic development has come out with its latest report card on their performances.
The Business and Industry Political Education Committee (BIPEC) has issued this year’s Business and Jobs Report Card, which grades lawmakers from “A” to “F” on their business-related votes.
No Mississippi House members made the “A” grade this year, according to the BIPEC report card. In fact, one DeSoto County House member received a “D” grade and another an “F” grade from BIPEC, which recorded how each member voted on 16 business-related measures to determine their individual grade.
In its report, BIPEC indicated its support or opposition to each measure, and then compared their position to the vote by the legislator in its grading process.
DeSoto County House members, and their grades, are state Reps. Jeff Hale (B), Bill Kinkade (B), Jerry Darnell (C), Dan Eubanks (C), Hester Jackson-McCray (C), Steve Hopkins (D), and Dana Criswell (F).
The complete listing for state House members and their votes may be found here.
As far as Senate representation from DeSoto County is concerned, state Sens. Kevin Blackwell, Michael McLendon, and David Parker all received “A” grades for their votes by BIPEC. All three were declared “Business Champions” for their support or opposition to bills BIPEC either backed or opposed.
The rundown on state Senate votes and each Senator’s vote is found here.
The group had B grades to 74 House members, most of whom were Republicans. There were nine Democrats and two independents who were awarded a B grade.
The 28 Senators who were given A graders are all Republicans.
