The Extra Mile Podcast: Legislative Session - State Senator Jenifer Branning

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*INTRO MUSIC*

(Paul Katool) That's nearly 2 billion and that's money that's going to be spent on improving safety, enhancing mobility and improving economic growth and development in the state of Mississippi.

(Will) Yeah. And with this historic funding from the legislature, new construction will be popping up all over Mississippi.

(Drew Hall) MDOT presents the Extra Mile Podcast.

(Brad White) Men and women of the Department of Transportation are up to the task and up to make sure that we deliver a product that the taxpayers can be proud of. So I'm ready for us to go to work.

(Paul) Welcome in to another edition of the Extra Mile podcast legislative session presented by the Mississippi Department of Transportation. I'm MDOT Deputy Director of Public Affairs, Paul Katool. And as always, I'm joined by my co host, Will Craft. He is the Director of Public Affairs here at the agency.

And today we've got a very familiar face. I think she needs theme music for now when she comes on. Such a regular guest. That is, of course, State Senator Jenifer Branning. represents district 18. That's Leake, Neshoba, Winston Counties and relevant to us. She is, of course, the highways and transportation chair, Jenifer Branning.

Always so great to see you. Thank you for joining us today. Um, listen, so it's a long session, four months. Uh, very long time. So, and we've already gone through January. Can you kind of give us a little bit of a recap of what's happened so far?

(Jenifer Branning) So, you know, we're still very early in the session and we still have time to draft legislation.

So as I was telling Will before we got on the podcast, I still have a stack of bills on my desk that I'm going through. I haven't dropped a lot of my bills because the way I like to operate, I like to get them, Um, as clean as they can be and all issues all kinks sort of worked out before they are dropped.

So that's how early we are. We don't have an idea of the lay of the land yet until we see what all legislation we have to work with. So we have a lot to do. We have a lot to do. It is a longer session, but we do anticipate that the deadlines may be moved up by a couple of weeks. And I welcome that. I welcome that. Yeah.

(Will) Always good efficiency. That's right. Lots of new faces across the street as well. I don't know if, do we have any new, uh, members on?

(Jenifer) We do have a few new senate members, and so we're getting to know those members, and I think we have a great group. We have a great group, and, uh, my transportation committee has been formed, and we have had that initial meeting, and so I'm very pleased with the members there.

It's a 19 member committee, so one of the larger committees that we have, and so we are looking forward to a great year.

(Will) Everybody wants to be on transportation.

(Jenifer) Everybody asks for transportation. Everybody, you know, roads, that impacts everybody's district. Everybody wants to know when their projects will get done.

I have the same questions and I'm equally as excited about the things in my district getting done. So yeah, I think it's going to be a great, great session for transportation.

(Will) I'd love to hear it and we'll definitely, a couple of projects that piqued our interest. We won't mention, uh, we'll get to those in a second.

Just kind of revamping their Rehash in the January recap that we had a hearing on transportation. Correct?

(Jenifer) Yeah, we did. So I like to bring in the powers that be if you will over transportation to talk to the committee to refresh us on sort of where we are and Where we need to head it helps the members I think helps us to do a better job on the committee if we know the lay of the land We know that the progress that's been made over the last year and director white came over and did an outstanding job laying out for us the current status of transportation.

So, we have a lot of work to do. We are looking, I think at least my main goal, and you've not asked me this yet, but I'll just go right ahead and tell you, the main thing that I'm looking at is identifying an additional stream of revenue for transportation that will be dedicated, be dedicated because every year, you know, you have to come across the street and say, Hey, legislature, we need this much money to get our work done. And we go through the process and we work back and forth and we try to find you some money. But you know, what we, what we've got to realize across the street, and Director White has done a great job to try to educate us on this, we've got to understand that with highway construction, you can't wait just a few months prior and realize how much money you're going to have.

You need to plan that stuff out years in advance to be efficient, to be efficient. Now over time, we have seen the year to year approach. Well, what does that do? I've seen that cost us money in different communities. I know at least in my community, uh, before I began serving, even there was a couple of projects where maybe we move forward in the right of way was purchased because that's how much money we had at that moment.

Well, those projects have sat dormant. Nothing has happened. Maybe they got ramped up years and years later. Well, by that time the rules changed. Additional right of way had to be purchased. Maybe utilities that were relocated had to be reworked in some fashion, so you can see how money was not spent as efficiently as we would like to see.

So what I want to do is put us in a position where we can plan long term, we can make the tax dollar stretch a little further, and MDOT's hands are untied, and you're able to go to work and do what you need to do for the people of Mississippi.

(Will) Yeah, I love all that. That's for sure.

(Paul) That's excellent. I know, I know it's early, but any kind of ideas being tossed around of how, uh, how we're going to go about in accomplishing that?

(Jenifer) Sure. Well, the, the one source that I've identified with the help of some other folks, we're looking at the use tax dollars. All those dollars are not diverted. We, we have that money that's, that's coming in and there's some wiggle room there. And what I would like to do is establish a portion of that, of course I, I won't tell you maybe everything I'm working on there, I'm still trying to fine tune the details and you'll know soon enough, but, you know, to identify a percentage of that to be dedicated for transportation, and of course we would break that up in maintenance versus capacity because I think you've got to be real clear on, on those categories, you know, so we'll see, but that's, that's the source that I've identified to look at and we're looking at that very seriously.

(Will) And. I'll just add to that, it's my understanding too that You know, even what share of that we might could get. That's not taking anything away from the current, uh, folks, right? For that use tax. That's right.

(Jenifer) That's correct. That's correct. We wouldn't want to back up on any of the established programs that we have.

That's right.

(Will) Um, and along that note, we can keep going, uh, legislation wise. Um, you know, ERBR, an ever present conversation, but got the new multimodal.

(Jenifer) That's right. Very excited about that. So I do have a bill ready to drop on ERBR and my anticipation is somewhere around a hundred million dollars back into that, that fund and y'all know I'm a fan.

I think MDOT has done a tremendous job administering that program. I think it's great for the rural communities. So it's been a real game changer for Mississippi infrastructure. Multimodal is a new Not really a new program to MDOT, but I think that we establish a new way of administering those funds and thirty million dollars went in last year.

I'd like to see more of the same. But we'll see. We'll see how that works out, but I'm really excited about the way multimodal can help shape economic development in our state. What we're finding is that we pay attention to all modes of transportation and make sure that they're shovel ready projects and these, you know, industrial development park sites that we have across the state.

It allows us to land some of these large projects and that's what it's all about, bringing jobs to Mississippi.

(Will) And no shortage of that, uh, lots of news this session already. You know, big EV project coming in, the batteries, I think is what it was?

(Jenifer) That was in Marshall County.

(Will) There we go, a little bit of noise.

(Jenifer) One of three, I guess, that we've had announced since we've been in session, so. Yeah, there was one on, on the coast as well. The port of Gulfport had an announcement, you know, in addition to the Amazon. So a lot of great things happening in our state. So excited. But, you know, we've got to remember that transportation is such a large part of that.

So in all of these meetings that I've attended, uh, the briefings on the economic development projects, there's always a line item or some, some source of the, the money going to transportation infrastructure. Sure. So we as a state have to remember that, look, it's a core function of government. We should have a dedicated stream of revenue.

That should be one of our priorities, and I believe that it is, but we've just got to find a smart way to fund that.

(Will) Yeah, lots of good stuff.

(Paul) That's excellent news. No doubt. So, uh, let's talk any other bills related to transportation. Perhaps there's something in the design build realm?

(Jenifer) That's right. So there's a bill that I'm also working to drop.

It's not been filed yet, but What that does is sort of, um, loosens the requirements on the design bill that's current law. And the premise there is to cut some of the red tape. Yeah. You know, and make the advertising requirements and so forth a little bit easier to get through. Really consistent with the federal level.

The federal government, my understanding, is uses this model as well as other states. And I think that puts us at a competitive disadvantage when we have neighboring states that already use this model that's not quite as stringent, doesn't take as long. not quite as efficient. So we we want to be a part of that.

If we can still do that and be transparent, I believe that we ought to look at it. So it's something that I've got that I'm working on.

(Will) And that's my understanding exactly what you just said, that it would greatly improve kind of the efficiency of moving some of those projects through and even being a little better watchdog on the dollar spending of it.

So, uh, all good. Anything, um, contentious wise that we might be looking at that Uh, maybe fragile coming through?

(Jenifer) I don't think there would be anything for transportation.

(Will) Wonderful. Love that. It's all good news.

(Jenifer) We, uh, I think that we are all thankfully pulling in the same direction on transportation related matters.

Very glad for that. And so it's a very, it's great. You know, there's other things that we have to address like PERS. We've got to look at that. We have the initiative, the initiative. Uh, bill that'll be coming through that we'll be looking at and some other things, you know, I'm working on maybe some youth court matters that'll be coming through.

So other non transportation things, but for transportation, I believe that everything that we see coming through is going to be positive. I don't think anything's controversial. I think that we will need to pay special attention to the details. The devil is always in the details. So, a lot of work to be done.

(Will) Well, thankfully we've got your guidance over there. We're very appreciative of everything so far. And I'm sure we will continue to be.

(Jenifer) Thank you.

(Paul) Thats the truth.

(Will) One or two more little things before we get to the fun questions, as we like to refer to them. But, um, we do have a new session year, a new term, if you will, four years.

How about our districts? Did we change up very much? Did your district change very much?

(Jenifer) So, I, I have the same three counties, being Neshoba, Leake, and Winston counties. I had all of Neshoba County anyway, the entire county. So, in redistricting, my footprint increased a little bit in Winston County and some in Leake County.

So, now in Leake County, District 18 now encompasses all, but I believe there are two precincts. They're not in District 18. So, just about the entire county. I was
happy with that, for sure.

(Paul) And, uh, speaking of the districts, let's drill down any, uh, any major projects? I know Highway 19 is a big one for you.

(Jenifer) Yes, Highway 19 in Neshoba County. We're about to move into Phase 2 of that. We were able to secure the additional round of funding for Phase 2 through the 3 year plan. It was already kind of worked into MDOT's plan. But so, with the additional state dollars that we plugged in, that project is rolling. And so what that means for my very rural county of Neshoba is that we finally have We'll have four lane access.

So we are one of the few counties in that area, if not the only county, that has lacked four lane access forever. And so this is just being a game changer for our county. It's going to help us as far as, uh, travel to the Meridian area. This is Highway 19 South between Philadelphia and Meridian. And I know that we'll see a lot of economic development to come from that.

So I'm just excited.Excited about that.

(Will) AbsolutelyYeah, that's gonna be a great project. I know it's been something that, uh, you've been very vocal about wanting to get done for quite some time, so. It'll be a very good, uh, thing to see it come to fruition, I'm sure. Uh, no doubt.

(Jenifer) Very happy about it.

(Will) Well, and let's move on right into the Fast and Furious with you. We know you're busy, but we have two fun questions that we'd like to ask before we let you get out of here. Uh, Paul, you wanna take the first one there for us?
(Paul) Yeah, sure. So, music people, of course, like we've said below. Uh, before, before. Uh, so anything, uh, anything that you've been listening, any concerts that you've, uh, you've attended lately that you want to kind of talk about?

(Jenifer) So I wish I could say that I had a lot of time for Extracurricular fun activities, I don't. I work way more than I probably should, but when I do take time to listen to music, I like to listen to my children. You know, I have all of my boys are musicians, and my husband as well, and they play in the Praise Team Band at church, so every week they are performing, you know, with the band there, but recently my oldest child is a guitar player, and he was featured, if you follow me on Facebook, I posted a video of him playing Carol of the Bells around Christmas time and it just, everybody loved it and just, just, uh, commented positively on that.

So when I'm involved in music and I have extra time to spare, it usually involves my kids.

(Will) Well, and that in and of itself, as I'm getting a little older, my kids getting a little older and a little more involved, that takes up a lot of time.Your kids being involved with it. So I can only imagine.

(Jenifer) We have a lot of fun with it and I'm glad that they enjoy music as a hobby. They could be doing a lot of other things as kids their age, but they seem to enjoy it. So we're proud of them.

(Will) It’s a great hobby.

(Paul) Less screens, more, you know, plucking.

(Jenifer) Absolutely, right.

(Will) And then our last fun question for you here.

We've asked you this before. We've talked a lot about food, uh, specifically with you, Senator. Some excellent dishes that we discussed at Neshoba. We're going to get by for some samples next time. We're making a point to do that. What about any new places have you been to, uh, in the last few months?

(Jenifer) So I, you know, I am a foodie and I love to cook. And so I love to go out and eat good food also. When I'm in Jackson, I like the the oldies but goodies, places like Char. But I have to give a shout out back home. There's a new restaurant opening by a friend of mine, which will be Ingram's, over in Leake County.

I think it's gonna be a steakhouse there on Highway 16, going toward Philadelphia. Really excited to try that. But when I'm not eating out, when I am home on the weekends with my family, we enjoy cooking together. Uh, the 12 year old especially, he and I came up with a fabulous shrimp bisque about two weekends ago.

It was, it was fabulous. So I do enjoy cooking with my family.

(Will) Me too. I'm not very good at it, but we enjoy it nonetheless. That's right. And then what was the name? Ingrams?

(Jenifer) Ingrams.

(Will) We’ll have to be looking forward to that. Add it to the list.

(Jenifer) Add it. That's right.

(Paul) Well, that's great. Well, Senator Branning, we always appreciate your time.

Thanks for coming in. And if we don't catch up with you before, we'll see you at the fair. During the summer.

(Jenifer) Thanks for having me.

(Paul) Yes, ma'am. All right. We'll wrap things up there. Thanks to our listeners, our viewers for tuning into the Extra Mile Podcast. You can watch and listen to episodes by visiting GoMDOT.com forward slash the extra mile. Follow us on social media at MississippiDOT is the handle there. We want to thank our producer, editor extraordinaire Drew Hall for holding things down behind the scenes and remember to drive smart out there on Mississippi highways.

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