Lincoln County lawmakers are tentatively applauding action tosettle the state’s long-running college desegregation lawsuit andare setting their sights on other pressing matters as the 2002legislative session’s pace quickens.

The House and Senate last week approved a resolution for a $503million settlement of the 27-year-old lawsuit involving the state’shistorically black universities. A judge’s signature is needed tomake the settlement official.

“It’s not perfect, but it’s better than what we’ve had,” saidDist. 92 Rep. Dr. Jim Barnett.

Dist. 39 Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith indicated she was pleased to havethe issue resolved so it would not continue to linger over thestate.

“We did need to get it behind us,” the senator said.

The plan calls for the state to spend $503 million over the next17 years to address years of neglect and inadequate funding of thestate’s historically black universities. While the resolution waspassed by fairly large margins, 33-10 in the Senate and 100-20 inthe House, it was not without debate.

“There were very good arguments on both sides,” Hyde-Smithsaid.

Commenting on Senate debate, Hyde-Smith said the strongestarguments for the settlement were that it was the best deal thestate was going to get, it could be paid out over the period oftime and the issue was not going away. The argument against thesettlement was that its price tag was steep and too expensive.

Given the state’s financial crunch, Barnett also expressedconcerns about the cost.

“I think it’s too much money at a time when we don’t have themoney,” Barnett said.

Nevertheless, Barnett said the settlement could be paid out overtime, and he was confident the state could meet the obligation.Also, he indicated the settlement stops the clock on escalatingattorneys’ fees.

While the price tag is steep, Hyde-Smith was glad to see thematter settled.

“I’m glad we can move forward now,” the senator said.

In other legislative activity, Barnett lamented the state’sMedicaid situation as lawmakers try to address a projected $124million funding shortfall. The representative said Medicaid couldbe out of money by the end of February.

“We’re in deep trouble,” Barnett said.

Tapping funds from the state’s tobacco lawsuit settlement hasbeen mentioned, but Barnett said he does not want to touch any ofthe principal. Hyde-Smith agreed.

“I would be extremely hard-pressed to turn loose of any of thetobacco money for any reason,” the senator said. “It’ll beinteresting to see how that goes.”

Barnett cited concerns about over-utilization of services anduse of brand name prescription drugs. Starting Tuesday, he saidlawmakers will consider a new funding formula that encourages useof more generic drugs, which can cost as little as 10 percent oftheir brand name counterparts.

Thursday was the deadline for requesting drafting of generallegislation bills and Monday is the deadline for introducing thosemeasures. Hyde-Smith said those bills be assigned to committees andit will be interesting to see which ones are brought up fordiscussion and made priorities.

“Things will start happening faster now,” the senator said.