NATCHEZ — With the swearing-in of legislators, the changing of the guard at the top House positions and the appointment of new committee chairs at the start 2012 legislative session, Rep. Sam Mims sees a sea-change on the horizon.

“With our new speaker (of the house) and new speaker pro tem and new committee assignments, we will see things done differently in the house,” he said.

“We are going to have chairmen who are conservative when it comes to social issues and when it comes to our state budget.

“It has been exciting, and it will also bring some excitement in the next weeks and months to come.”

It’s the budget that Mims, R-McComb, mentioned first, and he said it would be the primary focus of the session.

“We know we are having tough economic times here in Mississippi, and we have to balance our budget without raising taxes,” Mims said. “We have to realize that we can only appropriate money that the tax payers send us.”

Mims’ Republican counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Melanie Sojourner of Natchez echoed his thoughts.

“I think the thing that we have to remember is that government doesn’t have money to spend other than that which it takes from the people of the state, so we need to look very cautiously at what we do, what money is spent where,” Sojourner said.

Rep. Robert Johnson, D-Natchez, said he would like to see a solution that involves finding new or overlooked revenue sources to address the state’s budget woes, but he doesn’t think that’s likely to happen.

“I think the only solution we will be able to realistically do between now and May will be to make some hard cuts across the board,” he said.

That’s why Johnson projected the legislature will spend 60 percent of its time on the budget.

“We will be figuring out where to cut and where we can afford to cut,” he said.

But Sen. Kelvin Butler, D-Magnolia, said he’s seen a legislative report that says it will be possible to draft a budget comparable to last year’s.

“The economy is picking up a little bit, and we are kind of excited about where we are at this time, because there is enough there to maintain our level of funding,” he said.

That doesn’t mean that he isn’t going to be on the watch to keep education priorities financed, however.

“The budget is always a big issue, trying to find dollars to do what we need to do,” Butler said.

“It is going to be another tough year of finding dollars to make sure our education is properly funded.”

Other issues

The budget isn’t the only high- profile item on the legislative agenda, however, and one of those items — redistricting — will have a direct effect on the legislature. All of the legislators agreed that redistricting will be the No. 2 issue this session.

And it’s for that reason Mims said he doesn’t expect the legislature will dally when addressing the issue.

“I expect us to do that, hopefully soon,” he said. “I am hopeful that we will have a fair plan that is fair to all Mississippians,” he said.

Johnson said his personal legislative prerogative would be to monitor the economic development initiatives in the Natchez area and be prepared to introduce any legislation that might help those efforts along.

One economic development issue he will particularly keep his eye on is the Natchez rail line, and Johnson said he would introduce a bill titled the Railroad Economic Development Protection Legislation.

“(The Railroad Economic Development Protection Legislation) will make it harder to have a railroad declared abandoned and up for salvage,” Johnson said. “It will give the county or economic development body in an area an opportunity to do something with (the railroad).”

Other legislators said they were waiting for the session to unfold, but they were open to hearing from their constituents about what legislation they might need to author or support.

Sojourner said she was particularly interested in legislation that could directly affect Adams County, especially bills that would address the oil and gas industry, highways and transportation and agriculture.

But she’s not ready to put the pen to paper just yet.

“I have some things that I am researching and looking at, but at this point I am a firm believer that we don’t just need to jump up and pass legislation — that is how we get into some of the messes we are in,” Sojourner said.

“We have gotten in a situation where we have gotten a lot of cumbersome regulations on us, and that happens from people just wanting to pass legislation,” she said.

Wait, then act

The last week has been focused primarily on ceremonial and procedural housekeeping, such as committee appointments, Sojourner said.

With that out of the way, it’s time to get to work.

“I am eagerly ready to get past the ceremonial part and get down to business,” she said. “That’s what the people sent us here for.”

Feb. 20 is the deadline for legislators to introduce general bills and constitutional amendments. The session ends May 5.

Rep. Angela Cockerham could not be reached for comment.