Gov. Bryant has no reason to keep us in dark about special session

We appreciate the notice from Gov. Phil Bryant that he will call a special session in June to take care of some unfinished business but we can’t fathom why he won’t tell us what will be on the agenda.

We know the Department of Transportation will be because if it isn’t, there will be no road maintenance the next fiscal year. That would put some rather large potholes in front of a lot of political aspirations so we know that won’t happen.

We have to wonder how we got to this point anyway. Republicans have super-majorities in both Houses. They control the executive branch. And yet, the Legislature couldn’t finish on time.

Several crucial issues were left dangling. We don’t know what will happen with the overhaul of education funding. We haven’t seen a proposal, much less a bill.

We don’t know what will happen with the BP settlement money — money that the governor and Lt. Gov. Tate Reeves have assured us will be coming to the Coast.

And, now, we don’t know if that will be brought up during the special session. We asked.

“No individual agenda items, beyond the agency budgets, have been determined at this time,” Bryant’s spokesman Knox Graham wrote in an email. “Those decisions will come as we get closer to June 5.”

The governor should not keep us in suspense. We don’t want to see BP on this special session agenda at the last moment.

The Coast delegation, and the GOP majority, are too far apart. That is not an atmosphere for sound judgment. And the risk that the $100 million the state has received as part of a $750 million settlement for economic damages could be hijacked is too great.

That’s why we would rather Bryant say “yes” or “no” on the question of the BP money in the special session. And say it sooner rather than later.

We see no need to keep that secret until closer to June 5.

This story was originally published April 30, 2017 at 5:00 AM with the headline "Gov. Bryant has no reason to keep us in dark about special session."