MEMA Mitigation Director Testifies Before Members of Congress

PEARL, Miss. (MEMA) – The Mississippi Emergency Management Agency’s Mitigation Director Jana Henderson testified on June 16^th before the U.S. Senate Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs Committee. Henderson also serves as the Secretary for the Association of State Floodplain Managers (ASFPM) and was selected to speak on the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) and potential reforms to serve Mississippians better. The State has 334 participating communities in NFIP.

“It is my goal to use all available resources when it comes to breaking the cycle of disaster damage and reconstruction,” said Henderson in her testimony. Mitigation projects ensure that structures are strengthened to withstand a disaster, reducing or eliminating the costs of repair.

Henderson testified on the importance of maintaining NFIP standards on the local level for those 334 communities. As newly elected officials take office, MEMA works very hard to educate those in public office about their roles and responsibilities regarding floodplain management. Without doing so, homeowners with flood insurance risk losing their flood insurance policies. Some rural areas depend on volunteers to fulfill the Floodplain Administer duties, an issue that Henderson feels could be addressed by changes to NFIP.

“As much as the (NFIP) program grows for states, rural and low-income communities remain underserved because of the lack of resources available to them. Incentives within the Community Assistance Program Grant for social economically disadvantaged communities may be the key for better NFIP enforced regulations,” said Henderson in her testimony.

“It was an honor to represent ASFPM and the State of Mississippi in hopes that reform can happen with NFIP, information-sharing and moving towards a more equitable formula to serve those who simply can’t afford flood insurance,” says Henderson.

To watch the full hearing, click here.

 

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Read original article by clicking here.

Through work, we not only contribute to the community and meet personal needs, but also gain a sense of fulfillment.

No matter what view you have of the working world, most would agree that humans were not created to be stagnant. We constantly busy ourselves; whether that be in work, academics, or family; seeking to find value in every hour.

My first job was at fourteen years old. It was a bakery down the street from my house as a dishwasher. This wasn’t glamorous, but I found value in being able to make a small income and have a bit more freedom. As I moved through high school, I became a pastry chef and started working as one of the main bakers. I worked at that bakery for five years until I moved to Mississippi to pursue higher education in 2019. Work has included jobs involving hard labor, desk work, and many things in between.

I was raised in a culture where work was held at a high value. Teens were encouraged to work starting at a young age. It gave kids a sense of independence being able to pay for their own things and taught important financial lessons from a very young age.

“Work is essential.”

– Gov. @tatereeves

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— Empower Mississippi (@EmpowerMS) June 13, 2022

It helped me to build a sense of responsibility. When you are 16 and getting up early for a morning shift to get your workday started hours before school starts, it gives a sense of purpose outside of studies. It gave me something to work toward and allowed me to be able to have more freedom and save money to put towards things I wanted to do. I gained lessons in financial responsibility at a young age, something many teens don’t get, unfortunately. By the time I got to college, I had become familiar with how to budget and how paychecks needed to be split.

I carried these skills to adulthood. I was able to communicate well and work with adults early on which helped me build a professional and personal skillset. Working alongside people with higher experience taught me how to fail and take good criticism well, how to adapt and learn quickly, and not be afraid to ask questions. I began building comfortable relationships with more experienced co-workers and gaining confidence in the skills that I had worked hard to sharpen.

Work didn’t come without its struggles. I often felt a divide between others my age. I had to say no to things other kids were doing. I had to earn the trust with customers.

Increased financial security and maturity aside, learning how to prioritize life was something I had to learn quickly. Working as a teenager also came with full-time school, athletics, and extracurriculars. I was a pastry chef, a karate black belt, and had bought my first car out of pocket by the time I was sixteen, all while making my way through high school. Each commitment took sacrifice at different stages.

Work teaches you how to juggle various things in my life early on helped me transition into college and sort out my time commitments and priorities. Now being in my third year at Mississippi College, knowing how to work has allowed me to pay my own way through college and given me many opportunities to advance in my career.

Most of all, these things taught me the importance of saying “no” many times in order to have a valuable and trustworthy “yes.” Just because we have the capacity to do something doesn’t mean we should do it. Work is valuable and so is building relationships and boundaries within those work environments. We have some choice over the scale of our own life; we have the ability, authority, and freedom to make them smaller or larger. Our comfort zones are as big or small as we would like to make them and there is value in teens being able to expand themselves in the working world outside of their comfort zones early in their life.

Work gives us the ability to pay our bills. It also provides dignity and a sense of purpose. In some cases, it provides redemption. As individuals, we should seek out work. We should teach people early on that work is a good thing. And as a state, we should make it as easy as possible for individuals to work by removing regulations and other needless barriers. After all, work is the fabric that the United States was founded upon. We should celebrate it.

A new law passed by the Mississippi legislature aims to give Mississippi employers more options when employing people on community supervision.

Data from the Mississippi Department of Corrections indicates that over 20,000 people in
Mississippi are on some form of community supervision. This includes people on parole,
probation, and house arrest. Most supervision arrangements require individuals to have a
job, which can pose a challenge.

People with a criminal conviction in their past can face hundreds of legal restrictions, many
of which make it tough to find a job. For those on community supervision, the job search
can become even more difficult. Supervision usually requires a monthly check-in with a
parole or probation officer, which can mean time away from work.

This year, the legislature passed SB 2273, which allows employers to submit proof of
employment as a substitute to regular meetings with their parole or probation officer. The
option is voluntary and requires employer participation, so its impacts will be difficult to
estimate. This bill follows another recent change in the law which allows FaceTime
meetings in certain circumstances.

A review of Mississippi’s policies around Community Supervision gave the state a letter
grade of D. The state’s low score is attributable to several factors, including the over-use of
supervision in the state.

Originally created as an alternative to incarceration for lower-risk offenders and a way to
provide additional supervision to higher-risk individuals leaving prison, probation began as
an innovative tool to increase public safety, but has grown to become a common practice
that, when used excessively, can actually undermine public safety. Supervision can be a
helpful tool when needed, not tacked on as a perfunctory addition to every criminal
sentence.

Recent legislative reforms reflect a growing recognition that these supervision sentences
can impose a hardship on individuals that make it harder to maintain employment. These
reforms are needed, and can be built upon to improve Mississippi’s laws around community
supervision more broadly. Policymakers can learn from reforms in other states which curb
the use of supervision in cases where it’s not needed.

In addition to improving work prospects for people on supervision, reforms can improve
public safety by allowing officers to better supervise their caseloads. Policies that
encourage work and allow for improved supervision can benefit all Mississippians by
reducing recidivism and improving public safety.

You can help provide second chances in Mississippi. Please sign the petition below.

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It takes 1,000 hours of training before you can professionally shampoo hair in Mississippi.

Shampooers shampoo and rinse consumers’ hair in a beauty parlor. They perform fewer services than a cosmetologist, but work alongside them. Currently, just 7 states require a specific license to be able to work as a shampooer, and 30 more require a full cosmetology license. In 14 states, one does not need a license to be able to work as a shampooer.

Shampooers are analogous to assistants, working with cosmetologists instead of competing against them. They are able to increase the number of customers served by a cosmetologist, by performing some of the simpler tasks, freeing cosmetologists up for the tasks that require more expertise. The profession is a path to gain some experience before training to become a cosmetologist. It does not pay as well as a cosmetologist, so states that require a cosmetologist license effectively prevent anyone from becoming a shampooer.

Shampooing is a safe practice. They are limited in the chemicals they use, unlike a cosmetologist. Additionally, they are overseen by cosmetologists, who hire and manage them. The cosmetologists are responsible for ensuring beauty parlors maintain safe environments. Because cosmetologists, who are able to discern quality more easily than the public, hire shampooers, there is not the information asymmetry that exists for most licensed professions.

Mississippi stands out as the only state in the comparison group to require shampooers to obtain a cosmetology license to work. The training lasts 1,000 hours, 700 more than the next most stringent state, Tennessee.

The primary reason to support licensing of shampooers would be health and safety concerns. However, shampooers only perform tasks that carry a low risk of injury. Cosmetologists, not the public, hire shampooers, and cosmetologists have the knowledge about these treatments to judge shampooer’s ability.

Alternatives to the current licensing regime would begin with creating a license specifically designed for shampooers, like the other states in region have. This should only focus on the tasks that would be performed by shampooers, instead of everything a cosmetologist does. The shortened education would also reduce the cost, making it easier for someone to be willing to work as a shampooer.

Inspections: In place of licensing, the state could require regular inspections of beauty parlors. This would ensure that shampooers work areas were safe and the utensils were clean, to prevent injury to clients. Moreover, the inspections could ensure that shampooers were only offering the services they are skilled enough to perform, not those reserved for cosmetologists, if there were limited changes to the current cosmetology licensing regime.

Market Competition: The state could choose to rely on market competition to ensure shampooers presented no risk to the public. Cosmetologists are able to observe the quality of those applying to be hired as a shampooer. Shifting the regulatory focus from professionals to establishments in order to ensure health and safety would preclude the need for licensing shampooers.

You can help reform occupational regulations. Please sign the petition below.

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A resolution to the dispute between the state’s largest insurer and hospital is off to a slow start.

Insurance Commissioner Mike Chaney said mediation between Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center has begun but is moving at a “snail’s pace” so far.

“Some preliminary groundwork has been set,” he said. “… I expect by Monday of next week, it’ll ramp up to full steam.” 

While Chaney does not have authority to force the two parties to agree, he made a pointed statement: “I do have the authority to make them mediate. If either party tries to forestall or hinder mediation, they run the risk of damaging the University (of Mississippi) Medical Center possibly beyond repair. And they run the risk of damaging the health insurance side.” 

Marc Rolph, Executive Director of Communications and Marketing at UMMC, told Mississippi Today that actual mediation will begin next week.

Blue Cross officials said they could not comment on mediation because it was confidential.

Meanwhile, patients are still in the lurch. Frank Dungan of Madison is on the transplant list for a liver at UMMC. But because the hospital is out of network with his insurer, he has been marked “inactive” on the list. 

In mid-May, Chaney asked both Blue Cross & Blue Shield of Mississippi and the University of Mississippi Medical Center to provide a cost estimate for what a liver transplant would cost Dungan while the hospital is out of network with his insurer. 

Despite the insurance company directing him to go out of state and enroll in another transplant program. Dungan said he asked for his doctor to refer him to one of those transplant programs out of state, but the program never responded.   

Dungan wants to stay at UMMC, where he has years-long relationships with his doctors. He wanted to know what it would cost him to stay there and get the procedure – but he was having no luck getting any numbers from either UMMC or Blue Cross. 

After Chaney sent the letter, UMMC provided a cost estimate for the surgery to Dungan and Chaney, and representatives for Blue Cross provided an amount to Chaney. Both asked Dungan to keep the numbers confidential, he said, but he would have had to pay a significant amount to make up the difference in what the insurance company was willing to pay and what UMMC would charge. 

There were further conversations between the two, Dungan said, but he never received anything in writing. He’s also been unable to get any cost estimates of what the immunosuppressants post-surgery would cost. 

Two weeks after the communication from Blue Cross and UMMC, he’s dealing with additional medical problems. 

Dungan’s knees locked up and began swelling. He couldn’t walk, which led him to the emergency room and later received injections of steroids. Now, he’s trying to figure out whether he’ll need surgery before he’s able to get a transplant. 

He also discovered he again has an esophageal condition caused directly by his liver disease. The condition requires a procedure.

He’s frustrated that he’s having to see a provider outside of UMMC for his issues.

“It makes it more difficult, it makes it more complex for me to schedule and keep up with my health care appointments,” he said. “I’m sure they’re doing the best they can to communicate, but it’s two different systems.”

Chaney’s office is continuing to hear from Mississippians with questions about the dispute – including those who receive care that can only be found at UMMC – and what it means for their medical care. 

Chaney said he is trying to work with individuals on a case-by-case basis, particularly those who use Children’s of Mississippi or who are on the organ transplant list. 

The post Blue Cross, UMMC resolution moving at a ‘snail’s pace,’ insurance commissioner says appeared first on Mississippi Today.