By By Buddy Bynum / editor
Sept. 13, 2002
Stymied for eight days by the limitations of Gov. Ronnie Musgrove's call for a special session and under the critical glare of the national media, some lawmakers said Thursday they are frustrated with the lack of action on general civil justice reform.
Only six members of the Legislature three from the House and three from the Senate are officially hashing out details as members of a conference committee, but, until Thursday, they were also wrangling over more comprehensive civil justice reform issues that were included in a Senate-passed bill.
As the other 168 lawmakers sat waiting for something to vote on, Moore at mid-week opined that the Senate bill went beyond the scope of Musgrove's call and was, therefore, unconstitutional.
Moore's ruling may have broken the logjam, but Robinson said it essentially put negotiations between the two houses back at square one, a week after the special session began.
In fact, Robinson said, conferees spent little time on the single issue of medical malpractice until Thursday. He placed the blame squarely on the governor for the nature of his call.
State Sens. Videt Carmichael, R-Meridian, and Terry Burton, D-Newton, also said general civil justice reform should be on the table.
Musgrove has resisted such efforts but said he will expand the call if the Legislature first approves and sends him a bill on medical malpractice insurance.
Robinson said he's hearing from his constituents that they want general civil justice reform to be considered, too.
Weighing in
Meanwhile, the Wall Street Journal editorialized Thursday that "Mississippi is providing a national lesson in whether the power of the trial lawyer lobby can be broken.
Sticking points
Snowden said "the end of the tunnel is still a long way off."
At the end of the special session's eighth day, Snowden reported "some movement, but serious sticking points remain." For example, House conferees reportedly reduced their proposed cap on non-economic damages in civil lawsuits to $900,000 from $1 million, and Senate conferees edged up to $300,000 from $250,000.
Also, Musgrove's proposal for a state-guaranteed insurance risk pool for uninsured physicians apparently came back into play. Reports indicated the Senate is pushing hard for the pool, which apparently would be funded in part by state-issued general obligation bonds. House conferees dislike the pool altogether and want to remove it.
Snowden reminded reporters that conferees are working to produce what is called a "conference report" for both houses to consider.
Unlike a regular bill, when a conference report is presented to the full House and Senate, the only options available to members are to accept it as is, kill it, or send it back to the conference for additional work.
And, even if medical malpractice reforms are approved by both houses and signed by the governor, and he expands his call, the issue of comprehensive civil justice reform would start over from scratch.